UNIVEKSH  Y f 
(LLINOIS  LIBa 
AI  URBANA^miif 


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POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Office  of  the  Postmaster-General, 

I Washington,  D.  C.,  September  25,  1890. 

liou.  Henry  H.  Bingham,  Chairman, 

AND  Gentlemen  of  the  Committee  : 

Dear  Sirs  : Yonr  subcommittee  on  postal  telegraph  informs  me  that  all  tlie  parties 
that  have  signified  a desire  to  be  heard  on  the  postal  telegraph  bills  have  submitted 
their  testimonj’^,  and  that  it  is  in  order  for  me  to  add  anything  upon  the  subject. 

A.fter  standing  for  a year  past  in  the  midst  of  the  controversy  over  postal  telegraph 
ihat  for  over  fort}’^  years  has  gone  on  with  sharper  tone  and  tvidening  range,  I am 
more  than  ever  convinced  of  tlie  wisdom  and  practicability  of  restoring  the  tele- 
graph to  the  postal  service  and  make  it  what  it  was  originally  intended  to  be,  a part 
)t  the  postal  system.  I say  this  after  closely  studying  the  arguments  against  the  bill, 
made  so  vigorously  by  the  great  telegraph  company  which  is  now  its  only  visible 
opponent.  I do  not  believe  it  possible  to  argue  this  question  down.  There  is  a 
;eep  and  far  reaching  conviction  among  the  i)eople  that  the  telegraph  service  is  by 
right  a part  of  the  postal  service.  To  carry  the  postal  system  from  i)ony-rider8  to 
stage-coach,  and  on  to  railroad  service,  and  stop  all  further  progress  because  three 
thousand  owners  of  telegraph  stock  oppose,  is  not  in  accord  with  the  genius  of  our 
r)eo})le  or  the  spirit  of  the  times. 

The  will  of  the  people  in  this  respect  has  manifested  itself  unmistakably  before 
Congress  in  public  speech  and  statement  during  the  last  twenty  years.  Resistance  to 

at  great  popular  demand  may  not  be  the  wisest  thing,  nor  is  it  fair  to  count  those 
' ho  urge  the  adoption  in  some  form  or  other  of  the  postal  telegraph  as  hostile  to  ex- 
acting corporations.  Wo  stand  confronting  a public  measure  of  no  mean  importance 
or  magnitude.  It  is  to  give  the  country  a vast  enlargement  of  its  postal  system 
and  to  bring  home  to  the  people  the  cheai)  use  of  one  of  the  most  powerful  agencies 
of  modern  commerce  and  civilization. 

Though  the  literature  of  this  subject  is  already  large  I desire  to  touch  upon  a few 
points  that  I have  in  mind,  and  leave  with  you  ^or  publication,  if  you  deem  it  ad- 
visable, certain  appendices  which  I hope  will  be  of  value  both  to  the  advocates 
and  opponents  of  the  limited  postal  telegra])h.  This  discussion  I honestly  believe, 
must  go  on  until  the  whole  scheme  is  fully  understood,  and  then  will  come  the 
adoption  of  the  people’s  postal  telegraph.  I feel  certain  that  the  people  will  not  be 
turned  back  from  their  purpose  to  quicken  and  cheapen  their  methods  of  communica- 
tion, and  I mean  to  help  them  by  every  means  at  my  command. 

AS  TO  the  constitutionality  of  postal  telegraphy. 

It  has  been  argued  by  learned  lawyers  for  a score  of  years  that  a Government  tele- 
graph is  unconstitutional.  The  motives  of  these  gentlemen  have  been  one  of  two 
in  all  cases.  They  have  been  the  paid  attorneys  of  those  corporations  whose  special 
interests  have  demanded  that  their  monopolies  should  in  no  way  be  interfered  with. 
They  have  known  their  business  and  have  done  it  well.  The  other  opponents  were 
those  who  imagined  that  the  Constitution  would  be  exposed  to  every  sort  of  outrage 
if  they  were  to  fall  sick  for  a day.  The  courts  of  highest  appeal  have  settled  this 
question.  Congress  settled  it,  in  advance  of  judicial  action,  by  making  the  United 
States  the  owner,  and  the  Post-Office  Department  the  manager,  of  the  first  line  of  wire 
constructed  for  commercial  and  public  uses.  The  old  Government  telegraph  schemes 
were  constitutional.  What  shall  be  said  then  of  the  limited  postal  telegraph  plan, 
which  I have  been  somewhat  criticised  for  bringing  forward  ? There  is  no  doubt  that 
it  is  constitutional.  The  Constitution  permits  the  General  Government  to  transmit 
intelligence  for  the  people.  The  Post-Office  Department  has  been  doing  this,  with  the 
iuoney  and  the  improvements  at  its  disposal,  for  one  hundred  years.  It  is  preposter- 
ous to  argue  that  the  telegraph  ought  not  to  be  utilized  for  the  cheaper,  speedier, 
and  more  accurate  transmission  of  messages.  I have  had  prepared,  and  submit  for 


1 53065 


• • 


2 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


your  reference,  Appendix  F,  wbich  touches  upon  this  consideration.  The  Assistant 
Attorney-General  for  the  Department  assures  me  that  the  conclusion  that  the  limited 
postal  telegraph  plan  is  constitutional  can  not  be  resisted. 

THE  DEMAND  FOR  POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

Itwill  be  said  that  the  discussion  of  this  question  during  the  present  session  and 
for  the  past  thirty-five  years  is  all  to  no  purpose  because  there  is  no  demand  for 
postal  telegraphy.  It  has  been  said  over  and  over  again  that  the  service  furnished 
by  the  telegraph  companies  in  this  country  is  cheap  enough  and  efficient  enough.  It 
has  been  said  that  only  a million  of  people  in  this  country  use  the  telegraph  anyway, 
and  that  the  number  would  not  be  greater,  even  if  the  rates  were  only  one-bialf  as 
high.  All  of  these  things  are  simply  not  true.  The  telegraph  service  is  not  fully  ef- 
ficient. It  is  too  high-priced  ; and  it  can  easily  be  shown,  moreover,  and  shown  by 
figures  which  have  been  gathered  from  the  telegraph  business,  as  well  as  from  other 
innovations  of  a similar  nature,  that  the  number  of  persons  using  the  telegraph  would 
double  and  treble  very  speedily. 

One  of  the  most  effective  early  advocates  of  postal  telegraphy  was  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral Creswell.  He  said  in  1872  : 

‘‘I  did  not  take  my  position  until  after  repeated  solicitation  from  people  of  all 
grades  of  society  ; some  rich,  some  poor;  some  men  in  business,  and  some  in  social 
life ; some  from  the  East,  and  some  from  the  West;  nor  until  Congress  itself  had  in- 
augurated and  carried  on  two  or  three  able  and  laborious  investigations.” 

In  1879  Hon.  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  then  a member  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
represented  that  petitions  from  twenty-eight  States  and  three  territories,  containing 
many  thousands  of  names,  had  been  referred  in  1875  to  the  .Judiciary  Committee  of  the 
House,  of  which  General  Butler  was  then  chairman.  These  urged  that  the  Govern- 
ment should  then  build  a telegraph.  It  is  to  be  noticed,  indeed,  that  both  these  move- 
ments for  postal  telegraphy  were  intended  to  secure  the  larger  scheme,  which  either 
built  or  bought  lines.  The  limited  plan,  the  modest,  harmless  experiment,  I think  ! 
am  right  in  saying,  might  have  been  ten  times  more  widely  supported. 

In  February  of  this  year  I was  much  gratified  to  receive  a letter  upon  the  postal 
telegraph  question  from  Messrs.  Ralph  Beaumont  and  J.  J.  Holland,  members  of  the 
National  Legislative  Committee  of  the  Knights  of  Labor.  These  gentlemen,  after 
describing  the  introduction  of  postal  telegraph  bills  into  the  last  Congress  by  Rep- 
resentatives Smith,  of  Wisconsin,  and  Glover,  of  Missouri,  and  reciting  further  that 
the  Glover  hill  was  re-introduced  into  the  present  Congress  by  Representative  Wade, 
of  Missouri,  said  that  their  organization  “ at  the  last  session  presented  Congress  with 
petitions  containing  upwards  of  500,000  signatures  in  favor  of  this  measure.”  They 
went  on  to  say  with  reference  to  the  present  postal  telegraph  discussion  : 

‘^It  is  the  intention  of  our  organization  and  the  Farmers’  Alliance  and  Indus- 
trial Union  to  send  out  petitions  to  the  people  for  their  signatures  in  favor  of  the 
measure,  and  we  feel  that  we  shall  within  tlie  next  ninety  days  be  able  through  the 
two  organizations  to  present  to  Congress  petitions  containing  upwards  of  two  million 
signatures.” 

Mr.  Beaumont,  who  represented  the  legislative  committee  of  the  Knights  of  Labor 
at  the  hearings  given  by  your  committee,  gave,  on  March  7,  1890,  a brief  history  of 
the  efforts  of  his  order  in  behalf  of  postal  telegraphy.  He  said  that  Representative 
Smith,  of  Wisconsin,  had  prepared  a bill  which  had  been  supported  by  the  signatures 
of  530,000  Knights  of  Labor,  as  the  records  of  the  central  office  of  the  order  would 
show.  The  smallest  number  of  names  from  any  Congressional  district  was  thirty- 
four,  from  the  Third  Mississippi:  the  largest  number  was  seven  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-four,  from  the  Thirteenth  Pennsylvania,  which  embraces  the 
Schuylkill  County  Mining  district,  and  was  represented  by  Mr.  Brumin,  This  bill, 
according  to  Mr.  Beaumont,  was  lost  in  committee.  A compromise  measure,  jire- 
pared  after  conferences  with  Representative  Raynor,  of  INIaryland,  was  lost  in  the 
calendar,  ‘‘  which,”  Mr.  Beaumont  adds  with  pathetic  good  nature,  “ under  the  rules 
that  governed  the  House  during  the  past  two  Congresses  seems  to  have  been  a sort  of 
potter’s  field  for  legislation.”  Mr.  Beaumont  added  later,  in  the  hearing  of  March  7, 
that  since  the  collection  of  the  five  hundred  and  thirty-two  thousand  signatures  the 
organization  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  had  spent  ^21,000  in  public  lectures  through- 
out the  country.  Postal  telegraphy  was  the  question  discussed;  and  he  went  on: 
“ This  fall  wo  have  formed  an  alliance  with  another  large  body  of  the  industrial 
people,  the  National  Farmers’  Alliance  and  Industrial  Union.  For  the  past  ten  days 
that  organization  has  been  sending  blank  petitions  to  over  one  thousand  of  their 
branches  daily,  and  expect  to  keep  it  up  for  ten  days  more.”  Mr.  Beaumont  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  he  thought  when  these  returns  cume  in  the  question  whether 
the  public  mind  was  awakened  to  the  demand  for  postal  telegraphy  would  he  effect- 
ually answered. 

The  members  of  your  honorable  committee  will  recall  the  testimony  of  an  un- 
doubted. expert  in  telegraph  matters,  Mr.  D.  H.  Bates,  lately  president  of  the  Balti- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


3 


more  aud  Ohio  Telegraph  Conipauy,  upon  this  same  query,  whether  better  telegraph 
facilities  are  demanded.  Mr.  Bates  described,  in  his  testimony  of  March  4,  1890, 
how  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Compauy  had  adopted  a partial  mail  service,  by 
which  a considerable  telegraph  business  was  created  among  10,000  telephone  sub- 
scribers withiu  a reasonable  radius  of  Boston.  A lower  rate  for  night  messages  was 
charged,  and  a lower  rate  where  the  messages  could  be  delivered  through  the  free- 
delivery  post-offices.  Here  was  positive  proof  that  extra  facilities  meant  extra  busi- 
ness. Mr.  Bates  declared,  indeed,  that  these  customers  c:*uld  always  be  counted  upon  : 
those  disgusted  with  the  delays  and  mistakes  of  the  Western  Union,  those  who  desired 
a quick  service  when  the  mouo})olist  lines  are  full,  and  those  who  believed  in  compe- 
tition as  a proper  means  of  resentment.  Mr.  Bates,  who  has  followed  the  postal  tele- 
graph discussions  of  the  past  twenty-tive  years,  added  that  there  was  no  doubt  that 
the  people  demanded  a cheaper  telegraph  service;  the  effectives  objection  had  always 
been  that  the  plans  most  numerousJ3^  brought  forward  involved  either  the  purchase 
or  the  building  of  tlie  lines  and  the  employment  by  the  Gf)vernment  of  a great  force 
of  civil  servants.  These  objections,  as  1 shall  beg  the  liberty  of  pointing  out  later 
on,  are  obviated  by  the  present  proposition. 

I have  mentioned  evidences  that  the  agricultural  and  industrial  masses  of  the  peo- 
ple want  the  telegraph  service  within  their  reach.  The  rneaureless  body  of  pro- 
ducers, in  order  not  to  be  manipulated  and  robbed  by  the  speculators,  need  to  be 
nearer  to  the  consumers  ; and  the  measureless  bod,y  of  consumers,  in  o;  der  not  to  be 
manipulated  and  robbed  by  the  same  speculators,  need  to  be  nearer  to  the  producers. 
I have  referred  to  the  fact  that  an  acknowledged  telegraph  expert  has  proved  that 
cheaper  telegraph  service  has  been  demanded.  I beg  to  give  jmu  a further  illustration 
of  the  demand  for  a cheaper  and  a better  service  in  the  statements  and  memorials 
of  the  business  men.  It  is  well  known  that  boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  com- 
merce of  the  country'  have  persistently  tried  to  push  forward  postal  telegraphy.  The 
leader  in  this  movement  has  been  tiie  National  Board  of  Trade,  which  embraces  the 
following  commercial  organizations: 


Baltimore  Board  of  Trade. 
Baltimore  Corn  and  Flour 
Exchange. 

Boston  Merchants’  Associ- 
ation. 

Bridgeport  Board  of  Trade. 
Chicago  Board  of  Trade. 
Cincinnati  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

Detroit  Board  of  Trade. 
Indianapolis  Board  of 
Trade. 


Milwaukee  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

Milwaukee  Merchants’  As- 
sociation. 

Minneapolis  Board  of 
Trade. 

New  Haven  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

New  York  Board  of  Trade 
and  Transportation. 

New  York  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 


Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade. 
Portland  (Oregon)  Board  of 
Trade. 

Providence  Board  of  Trade. 
San  Francisco  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

Scranton  Board  of  Trade. 

St.  Paul  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce. 

Trenton  Board  of  Trade. 


I received  during  the  spring  and  summer,  without  anj^  effort  on  my  own  part,  the 
memorials  of  some  twenty-five  or  thirty’-  boards  of  trade  and  chambers  of  commerce 
from  various  parts  of  the  country,  supporting  the  limited  plan  which  I had  the  honor 
to  submit  to  you  early  in  the  session.  I have  added  these  in  the  Appendix  (B),  which 
the  incredulous  may  peruse.  These  demands  of  the  business  men  show  beyond  dis- 
pute, it  seems  to  me,  that  the  much  vaunted  infinitesimal  portion  of  the  community 
which  uses  the  telegraph  wants  a better  and  cheaper  service.  Another  evidence,  and 
one  quite  as  conclusive  appears  in  the  record  of  bills,  resolutions,  and  memorials 
presented  to  Congress  during  the  past  twenty-five  years.  A record  of  these  appears 
in  Appendix  G.  ' The  measures  therein  enumerated  would  not  have  been  brought  for- 
ward except  in  obedience  to  a popular  desire  for  reform.  The  array  of  facts  aud  the 
association  of  names  set  forth  in  this  plain,  unvarnished  list  are,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
of  striking  significance. 

I beg  to  call  your  attention  to  another  thing,  j)erhaps  the  most  encouraging  of  all 
to  the  friends  of  postal  telegraphy.  It  is  the  strong  indorsement  of  the  press 
of  the  country.  Of  two  hundred  and  sixty-three  newspaper  articles  which  have  come 
to  my  notice  during  this  discussion  one  hundred  aud  eighty-eight  are  for  postal  teleg- 
raphy and  seventy-five  against  it.  I have  Pad  equal  pleasure  in  offering  the  unfa- 
vorable and  the  favorable.  The  objections  raised  in  the  adverse  criticisms  show  how 
little  the  writers  are  acquainted  with  the  plan.  The  objections,  in  other  words,  are 
mostly’ smartl3"-turued  sentences  about  the  utter  business  inexperience  of  persons  en- 
gaged in  trade.  In  a second  appendix  (K)  occur  press  opinions  collected  during  the 
time  of  the  great  telegraph  strike  in  1883.  I ask  you  to  look  these  over.  They  show, 
as  it  seems  to  me,  not  only  how  quickly  the  popular  pulse  betrays  the  fever  of  busi- 
ness and  industrial  excitement,  but  also  how  powerful  the  press  is  when  it  is  united, 
earnest,  aud  honest.  Nine- tenths  of  the  favorable  clippings  support  the  general  or 
Government  scheme.  How  much  more  strongly  would  they  urge  the  limited  ! 


4 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


WHY  THE  SERVICE  IS  HIGH-PRICED  AND  INDIFFERENT. 


It  was  well  said  by  one  of  the  earliest  and  ablest  advocates  of  postal  telegraphy 
that  cheapened  intelligence  was  wanted  and  that  competition  only  coaid  cheapen 
intelligence;  that  there  were  men  who  were  ready  under  permission  to  attempt  to 
cheapen  it ; and  that  the  authority  was  wanted  simply  to  prevent  interference  by 
means  of  or  through  instrumentalities  that  were  against  it.  The  telegraph  service  is 
high-priced  and  indifferent  because  it  is  a monopoly.  It  is  no  secret, ’’said  a circular 
Teceiitly  issued  by  certain  prominent  members  of  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

that  the  excessive  charges  for  telegraph  service  (excessive  as  compared  with  its  actual 
•cost)  are  necessary  to  pay  dividends  upon  capital  stock  watered  several  hundred  per 
cent,  over  actual  investments.”  “All  attempts  at  competition,”  the  circular  added, 
“ have  failed,  only  resulting  in  the  absorption  of  a rival  and  a new  watering  of 
stock.” 

Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  whom  our  friend  Mr.  Murat  Halstead,  lately  nominated 
for  minister  to  Germany,  calls  “an  amusing  old  gentleman,”  quoted  as  early  as  1874 
the  following  extract  from  an  annual  report  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany : 

“The  extension  ofxompeting  lines  has  ceased,  and  it  is  not  believed  that  the  cap- 
ital can  be  found  for  any  new  enterpi-ises.  The  time  is  not  distant,  therefore,  when 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  will  be  substantially  without  a competitor  in 
the  conduct  of  this  business.” 

Mr.  Hubbard,  by  the  way,  is  not  exactly  “an  amusing  old  gentleman!”  He  may 
not  be  young;  but  he  is  not  to  blame  for  that.  There  is  nothing  improper  in  his 
advocacy  of  postal  telegraphy.  He  did  it  ten  years  before  he  was  rich  in  telephone 
dividends.  He  has  always  urged  a reduction  of  telephone  prices.  He  is  an  authority 
on  postal  telegraphy  in  this  country,  and  he  will  soon  see  it  a realized  fact. 

In  1884  Senator  Edmunds  of  Vermont,  discussing  the  Dawes  and  the  Edmunds 
postal  telegraph  bills,  said  among  other  things: 

“The  only  difference  (between  a government  telegraph  and  a private  telegraph 
company)  would  be  that  whereas  the  private  company  may  be  squeezed  by  cutting 
rates;  may  be  frozen  out,  or  bought  up,  or  pooled  with,  so  as  to  create  an  actual 
monopoly  by  which  not  only  the  prices  of  intelligence,  but  what  kind  of  intelligence 
shall  go,  and  when  it  shall  go,  and  under  whose  cootrol,  is  made  the  subject  of  one 
domination — the  only  difference  will  be  that  whereas  they  can  treat  and  deal  with 
rival  companies,  they  can  not  treat  and  pool  with  and  cut  rates  and  run  Congress  out, 
and  that  is  just  where  the  rub  really  is,  I suppose.” 

About  the  same  time  another  unquestioned  authority  said  : . 

“ The  Western  Union  Company  is  a little  corporation  controlled  by  an  executive 
committee  of  three  or  four  gentlemen  sitting  in  their  offices  in  New  York.  Its  wires 
run  all  over  the  country,  extending  by  their  connections  into  each  part  of  the  globe. 
This  company  controls  the  market  price  of  each  article  that  is  dealt  iu  in  every  mart 
in  this  country.  It  controls,  to  a greater  or  less  extent,  all  the  news — social,  political, 
and  general,  that  is  sent  over  its  wires,  and  every  important  personal  telegraphic 
communication.  This  corporation  is  uncontrolled  by  any  law  save  the  interests  of 
its  directors,  for  there  is  no  law  on  our  statute-books  to  regulate  this  vast  business. 
The  laws  of  the  several  States  have  no  power  to  regulate  it,  for  its  lines  and  business 
run  from  one  State  and  oue  continent  to  another,  and  the  instant  its  lines  pass  from 
one  State  into  another  they  are  beyond  the  reach  of  the  laws  of  the  first  State,  which 
are  powerless  beyond  its  boundaries,  and  can  not  regulate  any  message  going  into 
another  State.” 

In  the  present  discussion  Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  of  New  York,  has  given  a list  of  the 
directors  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  I beg  to  append  their  names: 


Norvin  Green. 
Thomas  T.  Eckert. 
John  T.  Terry. 
John  Vanhorne. 
Jay  Gould. 

Russell  Sage. 
Alonzo  B.  Cornell. 
Sidney  Dillion. 
Samuel  Sloan. 
Robert  C.  dowry. 


George  J.  Gould. 
Edwin  Gould. 

John  G.  Moore. 
Cyrus  W.  Field. 
Henry  Weaver. 
Percy  R.  Pyne. 
Charles  Lanier. 
Austin  Corbiu. 

J.  Pierpout  Morgan. 
Frederick  L.  Ames. 


Jolm  Hay. 

William  D.  Bishop. 
Collis  P.  Huntington. 
George  B.  Roberts. 
Sidney  Shepard. 
Erastus  Wiman. 
William  W.  Astor. 
Chauncey  M.  Depew. 
James  W.  Clendenin. 
Heniy  M.  Flagler. 


Mr.  Thurber  used  this  list  of  names  to  answer  the  question  why  the  public  can  not 
have  the  great  boon  of  a postal  telegraph.  “ No  such  list  of  names,”  he  added,  “ can 
be  found  in  the  directory  of  any  other  corporation  iu  this  country.  Every  name  rep- 
resents some  great  interest.  They  are  the  richest  and  the  best  in  the  financial  world. 
They  deservedly  rank  as  our  best  citizens;  their  names  are  found  scattered  through- 
out the  religious  and  charitable  world,  but  iu  the  matter  of  transmitting  intelligence 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


6 


their  interest  diverges  from  that  of  the  general  public  and  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  sixty-five  millions  of  people,  or  the  comparatively  few  stockholders  which 
these  men  represent,  will  be  able  to  control  the  great  force  of  electricity  as  applied 
to  the  transmission  of  intelligence.” 

According  to  nucontroverted  statements  made  before  yonr  honorable  committee 
the  ca[)ital  stock  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  in  1858  was  $3.58,700. 
The  stock  dividemls  declared  between  1858  and  1866  amounted  to  $17,810,146,  and  the 
stock  issued  for  new  lines  was  $1,937,950;  so  that  tlie  capital  stock  on  July  1,  1866, 
was  $20,133,800.  In  1866  new  si  ock  was  created  to  the  amount  of  $20,450,500  : so  that 
the  total  capital  of  the  Western  Union  on  the  1st  of  July,  18()7,  was  $40,568,300.  The 
largest  dividend  declared  by  the  company  up  to  1874  was  414  jter  cent.  The  largest 
amount  of  stock  <}ver  divided  at  one  time  was  $10,000,000,  and  for  a period  of  seven 
years  the  dividends  were  about  100  per  cent,  a year  on  its  average  capital.  It  was  by 
adding  dividends  to  dividends,  and  by  piling  the  one  up  on  top  of  the  other  that  this 
tremendous  amount  of  $46,000,000  of  capital  and  debt  was  created.  The  history  of 
the  company  shows  no  chauge  of  policy.  In  1874  the  company  bought  up  its  own 
stock  and  the  stock  of  other  telegraph  companies  and  accumulated  a fund  of  over 
$15,000,000,  which  was  held  in  one  shape  or  another  in  Ihe  tre  isnry  of  the  con  pany. 
An  investment  of  $1,000  in  1858  in  Western  Union  stock  would  have  received  up  to 
the  present  time  stock  dividends  of  more  than  $50,000  and  cash  dividends  equal  to 
$100,000,  or  300  per  cent,  of  dividends  a year.  These  have  been  some  of  the  dividends 
declared:  in  1862,  27  per  cent. : in  1863,  100  per  cent.;  in  1864,  100  per  cent.;  in  1878, 
$6,000,000;  in  1881,  one  of  $15,000,000  and  another  of  $4,300,000;  in  1886,  25  per  cent. 
The  Western  Union  plant,  exclusive  of  its  contracts  with  railroads,  could  be  duplicated 
for  $35,000,000  Its  present  capital  is  $86,000,000.  It  has  realized  $100,000,000  of  net 
profits  in  twenty-five  years  by  its  high  charges. 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  itresident  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has 
made  some  significant  admissions.  He  says  that  in  1868  the  average  profit  to  the 
company  upon  each  message  was  41  cents ; in  1878  the  average  profit  was  13  cents  ; 
between  1878  and  1883  the  business  increased  from  24,000,000  to  over  41,000,000  of 
messages;  the  largest  yearly  profit  of  the  company  was  realized  in  1883,  unless  the 
present  year  should  show  a larger.  The  average  profit  per  message  since  1878  has  been 
about  seven  and  one-half  cents.  This  is  pretty  fair.  The  annual  number  of  messages 
increased  from  6,400,000  in  1868  to  54,100,000  in  18j?9,  This  is  a pretty  fair  business,  too. 

“The  great  question,”  said  Congressman  Raynor,  discussing  the  Glover  telegraph 
bill  at  the  last  Congress,  “ that  underlies  the  discussic  n of  this  measure,  is  whether 
we  are  not  in  the  hands  of  a monopoly  that  not  only  has  the  right  to  fix  its  charges 
arbitrarily,  but  can  crush  opposition  whenever  it  encounters  it.  Of  all  these  monop- 
olies, I submit  that  the  telegraph  system  of  this  country,  substantially  owned  and 
controlled  by  one  man,  is  the  worst  and  most  dangerous  of  them  all.”  “ It  is  no 
longer  safe  or  expedient,”  Mr.  Raynor  went  on,  “to  intrust  into  the  hands  of  one 
overpowering  monopoly  the  telegraph  business  of  this  country.  It  is  a power  that 
not  only  can  be  used,  but  has  been  perverted,  for  purposes  hostile  to  the  best  interests 
of  the  people;  the  markets  of  the  country,  its  finances,  and  its  commercial  interests 
to  so  large  an  extent  depend  upon  the  honest  and  honorable  administration  of  the 
business  of  this  company  that  the  people  are  not  in  a mood  to  repose  a trust  of  this 
character  any  longer  without  competition  in  the  hands  of  a stock-jobbing  corporation.” 

WHAT  THE  LIMITED  PLAN  IS. 

I have  tried  to  show  that  the  telegraph  service  of  this  country  ought  to  be  cheaper 
and  not  inaccessible  to  the  people.  Business  men  generally,  and  the  industrial  and 
farming  classes,  too,  demand  that  the  service  shall  be  more  efficient  as  well  as  cheaper. 
The  ordinary  opposition,  which  under  the  direction  of  competent  men  would  bring 
prices  down  and  make  the  service  quicker  and  more  accurate,  has  been  tried  a score 
of  times  and  it  has  always  failed.  There  is  practically  but  one  telegraph  company  in 
this  country  to-day.  I say  this  because  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  has  an 
arrangement  wi  h the  Western  Union  by  which  prices  are  to  be  kept  up.  What, 
then,  is  to  be  done  about  it  ? The  Government,  which  has  not  hesitated  to  use  the 
stage  coa,cl>  and  the  railroad  train  for  its  mail  service,  must  come  to  the  rescue.  The 
experiment  must  not  tax  a large  number  for  the  benefit  of  a few.  It  must  not, 
therefore,  involve  any  addition  to  our  immense  standing  army  of  civil  employes ; it 
must  not  involve  any  large  aiipropriations.  It  must  be  a careful,  inexpensive  experi- 
ment ; then  it  will  be  a most  beneficent  established  institution.  I say  this  with  entire 
confidence,  because  progress  does  not  go  backwards,  whatever  the  obstructionists  may 
say.  I shall  ask  you  now  to  consider  for  a moment  a detailed  description  of  the  limited 
postal  telegraph  plan  which  I brought  to  your  notice  early  in  the  session,  and  which, 


6 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


with  such  modifications  as  the  experience  and  judgment  of  experts  have  brought 
about,  I now  urge  with  more  earnestness  and  confidence  than  ever. 

The  bill  is  “to  establish  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service’’  “for  the  purpose  of 
facilitating  the  transmission  of  correspondence  amoug  the  people  of  and  promoting 
commerce  between  the  several  States  and  Territories  of  the  United  States,”  to  be 
a bureau  of  the  Post-Office  Department  for  thte  deposit,  transmission,  and  delivery 
of  postal  telegrams  through  the  postal  service.  All  post  offices  where  the  free-de- 
livery  service  now  exists,  and  the  offices  of  the  telegraph  companies  with  which 
contracts  would  be  made,  would  be  postal  telegraph  stations.  In  addition  the  Post- 
master-General would  be  empowered  to  designate  from  time  to  time  other  post-offices 
as  postal  telegraph  offices.  He  is  directed  by  the  bill,  after  inviting  proposals  by 
public  advertisement,  to  contract  with  one  or  more  telegraph  companies  now  in 
existence  or  that  may  become  incorporated,  for  a period  of  ten  years,  for  the  trans- 
mission of  postal  telegrams  on  conditions  and  at  rates  of  tolls  set  forth  in  the 
bill.  Rates  may  be  reduced  by  the  consent  of  both  parties  to  the  contracts  at  any 
time  during  the  continuance  of  the  contracts.  Postal  telegrams  are  to  be  sent  in  the 
order  of  filing,  except  that  Government  telegrams  take  precedence.  As  with  the 
mails  no  liability  is  to  attach  to  the  Post-Office  Department  on  account  of  delays  or 
errors.  The  charges  for  the  collection,  transmission,  and  delivery  of  postal  telegrams 
other  than  postal  money  order  and  special-delivery  telegrams  and  Government  tele- 
grams I gh^e  briefly  as  follows: 

For  twenty  words  between  stations  within  a State  or  Territory,  or  between  sta- 
tions 300  miles  apart  or  less,  15  cents  ; for  twenty  words  between  stations  in  the  States 
of  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Connecticut,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  and  the  States  east 
of  them,  25  cents;  for  twenty  words  between  stations  in  the  States  of  Minnesota, 
Iowa,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana,  and  points  west  of  them,  25  cents  ; for 
twenty  words  between  stations  in  States  forming,  generally  speaking,  zones  up  and 
down  on  both  sides  of  the  Mississippi,  25  cents;  for  twenty  words  between  any  two 
stations  not  above  provided  for,  50  cents  ; for  all  words  in  excess  of  the  first  twenty, 
1 cent  per  word ; prepayment  of  replies  to  be  made  at  the  office  from  which  the  orig- 
inal telegram  is  transmitted. 

It  is  provided  in  the  bill  that  the  money  order  service  of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment shall  be  extended  to  designated  postal  telegraph  money  order  offices  under 
the  usual  method  and  under  the  usual  fees  now  charged  by  postmasters.  The 
contracting  telegraph  companies  are  to  have  all  the  revenue  from  this  postal  telegraph 
service  except  the  usual  rate  of  letter  postage  for  each  telegram  which  is  to  be  re- 
served to  the  Department.  All  the  accounts  for  the  telegraph  service  are  to  be  kept 
as  the  x^ostal  accounts  are  kept  by  the  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  the  Post-Office 
Department.  The  Postmaster-General  may  provide  suitable  space  in  post-offices 
for  the  use  of  the  telegraph  companies,  though  nothing  in  the  act  prevents  the  tele- 
graph companies  from  mainiaining  offices  of  their  own,  or  jiermits  the  telegraph 
companies  to  compel  the  Postmaster-General  to  furnish  space  in  post-offices.  The 
companies  employ  at  their  own  expense  all  officers,  operators,  and  employes  for  the 
transmission  of  the  telegrams.  If  any  postmasters  act  as  operators,  they  are  to  be 
compensated  by  a uniform  percentage  on  the  tolls  of  all  telegrams  handled  by  them, 
or  by  some  other  share  of  these  tolls  to  be  paid  by  the  company  as  the  contracting 
parties  may  agree.  Any  contracting  telegraph  company,  it  is  distinctl}’  provided, 
may  do  its  regular  business  lor  the  public  as  at  present.  Postmasters  are  to  be  com- 
pensated for  the  ])03tage  portion  of  stamps  aud  telegram  forms  as  they  are  now  com- 
pensated for  postage  on  regular  mail  matter.  The  Postmaster  General  shall  provide 
telegram  stamps  and  telegram  forms.  A severe  penalty,  (imprisonment  at  hard  labor 
for  from  one  to  throe  years,)  is  provided  for  the  punishment  of  persons  either  in  the 
employ  of  the  telegraph  companies  or  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  who  shall  secrete 
or  destroy  postal  telegrams,  or  make  known  the  contents  of  postal  telegrams.  All 
employes  of  the  companies  or  of  the  Department  are  obliged  to  make  oath  in  the  usual 
way  for  the  faithlirl  peiformance  of  their  duties.  Even  without  all  these  safeguards 
there  would  be  no  trace  of  jiower  in  the  bijl  for  an  administration  to  use  for  improper 
purposes.  In  the  intensity  of  the  English  elections  there  has  been  no  trouble  from  the 
complete  Government  telegrapli ; there  could  be  none  at  all  from  the  limited  under- 
taking. Congress  is  too  watchful  and  the  people  too  jealous  of  their  rights  aud  too 
well  aide  to  resent  a wrong. 

But  I beg  to  refer  you  to  Appendix  A,  which  is  the  bill  itself,  a*nd  respectfully  to 
challenge  tlie  most  critical  to  find  wheiein  the  measure  fails  to  pay  due  heed  to  the 
interests  of  any  persons  involved  in  the  experiment  or  in  any  way  affected  by  it. 

THE  OPERATION  OF  THE  PLAN. 

The  working  of  the  plan  can  easily  be  seen  to  be  most  economical  as  well  as  most 
convenient.  All  post-offices  and  letter-boxes,  no  matter  where  they  might  be  located, 
would  be  utilized  by  the  public  as  receptacles  for  postal  telegrams,  aud,  as  the  de- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


7 


maud  arose,  special  boxes  might  be  established  for  postal  telegrams  only,  from  which 
collections  might  be  made  more  frequently  than  from  the  regular  letter-boxes.  In  all 
or  most  of  the  post-offices  the  wires  of  the  contracting  telegraph  company  would  be 
placed,  and  its  operators  would  transmit  the  postal  telegrams  to  their  destination  by 
wire,  just  as  telegraph  companies  now  transmit  their  business.  With  postal  telegrams 
filed  by  the  senders  in  person  or  through  the  medium  of  messengers  or  servants,  there 
would  be  no  more  delay  involved  up  to  the  point  of  reception  at  the  end  of  the  line 
than  now  occurs  in  the  general  telegraph  business;  and  in  case  of  postal  telegrams 
collected  from  letter-boxes  at  short  intervals,  the  delay  would  generally  be  not  greater 
than  is  now  required  to  go  to  a Western  Union  branch  office  to  send  the  telegram. 
As  fast  as  telegrams  were  received  at  the  telegraph  office  of  destination,  they  would  , 
be  “ enveloped”  and  addressed  and  a x>ostage  stamp  of  proper  value  affixed,  and 
they  would  then  be  handed  over  to  the  post-office  by  the  telegraph  company  for 
delivery  by  the  regular  carrier  service.  As  the  business  developed  and  its  demands 
were  understood,  the  intervals  between  deliveries  might  easily  be  shortened.  In 
large  cities  there  are  regular  deliveries  leaving  the  post-office  almost  every  hour.  In 
any  case  the  payment  of  10  cents  extra  would  provide  for  an  immediate  special  de- 
livery in  the  same  manner  as  a letter  is  now  handled  when  a special  delivery  stamp 
is  affixed  in  addition  to  the  regular  postage.  No  matter  how  remote  post-offices  might 
be  from  postal  telegraph  stations,  they  could  always  have  the  advantage  of  the  tele- 
graph service  forward  and  backward ; for  postal  telegrams  could  always  be  sent  by 
mail  to  the  nearest  telegraph  station  for  transmission  thence  by  wire  to  their  desti- 
nation, or  they  could  be  received  by  mail  from  the  telegraph  stations  similarly. 

It  will  be  observed  that  postal  telegrams  would  be  collected  and  delivered  by 
means  of  the  post-office  service  and  transmitted  by  wire  froru  point  of  origin  to  des- 
tination through  the  medium  of  the  contracting  telegraph  company.  This  company 
wonld  stand  in  exactly  the  same  relation  to  the  Post-Office  Department  that  a rail- 
road, or  steam-ship  company,  or  a stage  line  or  local  express  company  holds  which  has 
a contract  for  transporting  mail  matter  from  one  city  or  town  to  another,  or  between 
branch  post-offices  in  large  cities.  In  many  cases  a postal  telegram  would  be  collected, 
transmitted,  and  delivered  with  no  more  delay  than  now  occurs  in  the  business  of  ex- 
isting telegraph  companies;  and  in  most  cases  the  time  consumed  in  the  collection 
and  the  delivery,  especially  in  respect  to  postal  telegrams  passing  between  distant 
cities  or  towns,  would  not  affect  the  Value  of  the  communication.  Indeed,  it  is  be- 
lieved a vast  amount  of  correspondence  now  committed  to  the  mails  would  seek  the 
more  speedy  postal  telegraph  channel.  In  each  case  the  Post-Office  Department 
would  earn  its  postage,  while  the  people  would  be  the  better  served.  The  telegraph 
company  would  be  able  to  do  the  business  at  the  greatly  reduced  rates,  because  it 
could  be  relieved  not  only  of  all  the  accounting,  but  of  two  other  important  items  of 
expense  to  it;  namely,  the  collection  and  the  delivery  of  telegrams  which  would  be 
removed  from  them  entirely,  and  that,  too,  without  any  appreciable  additional  ex- 
pense to  the  Department. 

In  cases  where  the  amount  of  business  to  be  done  would  not  justify  the  telegraph 
company  in  the  maintenance  of  a separate  telegraph  staff,  the  postmaster,  if  not  an 
operator  himself,  would  employ  au  operator,  his  extra  compensation  from  the  tele- 
graph service  enabling  him  to  procure  such  help.  In  many  cases  the  postmaster’s 
assistant,  or  one  of  his  clerks,  would  be  selected  with  a view  to  his  ability  to-  tele- 
graph. The  result  would  be  that  in  such  cases  the  telegraph  work  could  be  per- 
formed by  the  postmaster  or  his  assistant,  and  their  compensation  thereby  be  in- 
creased ; and  where  the  regular  post-office  duties  are  so  heavy  as  to  preclude 
such  joint  labors  without  their  undue  interference  with  each  other,  the  telegraph 
company  would  employ  an  operator  to  give  all  of  his  time  to  the  telegraph.  There 
would  be  no  over-charges  by  thrift}^  operators.  The  charges  for  postal  telegrams 
would  be  easily  understood.  There  are  but  three  separate  tariffs  named  ; 15,  25, 
and  50  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words.  One  cent  per  word  is  charged  in  all  cases 
for  additional  words.  If  an  insufficient  value  of  stamps  should  be  affixed,  the  deficit 
would  be  collected  from  addressees  provided  at  least  15  cents  should  be  prepaid.  If 
stamps  of  a value  less  than  the  miuimum  timounb  (15  cents)  were  affixed,  the  com- 
munication could  be  forwarded  by  mail.  The  bill  would  protect  both  the  Post-Office 
Department  and  the  public,  and  would  provide  for  a class  of  correspondence  that, 
generally  speaking,  would  not  be  put  upon  tne  wires  at  the  high  rates  now  prevailing . 

I can  not  be  made  to  believe  that  this  union  of  the  telegraph  and  the  postal  serv- 
ice, whereby  each  would  so  distinctly  lessen  the  burden  of  work  of  the  other,  will  not 
appeal  to  the  ingenuity,  the  enterprise,  and  the  good  sense  of  the  American  people  the 
moment  they  understand  it.  I am  sure  that  it  is  easily  susceptible  of  proof  that  this 
convenient,  safe,  and  quick  service  would  be  very  generally  used.  We  use  a 
postal-card  for  brief  communications  and  run  the  inappreciable  risk  of  having  its  con- 
tents become  known  to  persons  other  than  the  addressee  ; by  paying  twice  the  price 
of  a postal-card  we  can  convey  a whole  ounce  of  written  matter  under  seal ; and,  by 
paying  10  cents  more,  we  secure  an  immediate  delivery.  In  the  case  of  the  telegraph. 


8 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


it  is  true,  there  is  already  a deferred  service  at  night,  for  which  about  two-thirds  or 
three-fourths  of  the  full  rate  is  charged,  depending  upon  the  number  of  words  trans- 
mitted, the  delivery  being  made  on  the  next  succeeding  business  morning  ; and  it  has 
been  argued  with  some  show  of  reason  that  the  small  number  of  night  messages  com- 
pared with  those  sent  at  day  rates  is  evidence  that  the  public  demands  a quick 
rather  than  a cheap  telegraphic  service,  and  that  any  elfort  largely  to  increase  the 
volume  of  telegraph  business  by  means  of  much  cheaper  rates  for  a deferred  service 
would  only  result  in  loss,  for  the  reason  that  the  expense  of  performing  that  service 
would  increase  in  substantially  the  same  ratio  with  the  volume  of  business.  It  is  to 
be  answered,  however,  that  the  small  difference  between  the  day  rate  and  the  night 
rate  is  a reason  why  the  latter  rate  is  not  used  more  largely ; and  it  can  not  be  denied 
that,  as  between  the  mail  and  the  telegraph,  there  is  a wide  margin  of  time,  particu- 
larly between  places  or  regions,  say,  500  miles  or  more  apart,  and  that  an  enormous 
amount  of  correspondence — commercial,  social,  and  political — now  sent  by  mail 
would  be  put  upon  the  wires  if  there  were  suitable  conveniences  and  ample  facilities 
and  if  the  cost  were  not  prohibitory  or  excessive. 

As  to  the  conveniences  for  collection  and  delivery,  what  could  be  more  complete 
than  the  Post-Office  machinery,  already  within  quick  reach  of  all  the  people!  Noth- 
ing remains  but  to  bring  the  cost  of  the  service  down  to  a point  which  will  permit 
some  of  this  vast  volume  of  business  to  be  sent  by  telegraph.  Can  this  be  done  ? It 
certainly  can.  Begin  in  the  large  cities  and  commercial  centers,  where  the  great  bulk 
of  the  present  business,  mail  and  telegraph,  originates.  We  find  that  to  collect  and 
distribute  messages  local  wires  and  branch  offices  are  maintained  at  great  cost,  which, 
added  to  the  cost  of  messenger  service,  is  estimated  to  amount  to  one-fourth  or  even 
one-third  of  the  whole  cost  of  the  service  ; which  average  cost  is  stated  in  the  West- 
ern Union  reports  to  be  about  23  cents  per  message.  The  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Tele- 
graph Company  during  the  last  twelve  months  of  its  existence  handled  seven  and  a 
half  millions  of  telegrams  at  an  average  cost  of  less  than  20  cents.  The  territory 
covered  by  the  lines  of  that  company  was  limited,  however,  extending  from  Portland 
to  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Galveston,  and  intermediate  points,  not  including  certain 
Southern  States.  If  now,  therefore,  we  can  cut  off  the  local  expenses  referred  to,  we 
have  gone  a long  way  towards  the  desired  result.  Consider,  also,  that  the  general 
expenses  of  the  organization  need  not  be  increased  (except  in  an  inappreciable 
ratio)  in  order  to  provide  for  the  handling  of  a largely  increased  volume  of  busi- 
ness; and  also  consider  the  other  established  fact  that  the  actual  cost  (for  labor)  of 
performing  a given  class  of  service  does  not  increase  in  the  same  proportion  as  the 
increased  business  does.  A further  item  of  saving  is  discovered  in  the  fact  that  in 
capital  and  maintenance  account  in  a large  majority  of  cases  this  contemplated  in- 
crease of  business  could  be  handl  ed  upon  wires  which  would  otherwise  be  idle  at 
times;  bearing  in  mind,  of  course,  the  fact  that  iu  any  given  direction  the  time 
would  always  come  when  additional  facilities  would  need  to  be  provided.  As  a rule, 
however,  a large  increase  in  the  volume  of  business  would  serve  to  utilize  many  or 
most  of  the  wires  when  otherwise  they  would  stand  idle.  We  are  thus  able  easily  to 
eliminate  from  the  problem  before  us  a considerable  percentage  of  the  cost  of  hand- 
ling telegrams. 

The  question  arises,  would  the  public  be  satisfied  with  a telegraphic  service  which 
would  not  provide:  First,  immediate  delivery;  second,  written  receipt  from  ad- 
dressee; third,  responsibility  for  damages.  As  to  the  first  point,  it  may  be  remarked 
that  the  character  of  the  contemplated  service  is  such  that  a half  hour  or  so  at  each 
end  of  the  line  for  the  post-office  service  would  not  be  objectionable,  while  for  instance 
twenty-fonr  hours  or  more,  if  the  mail  were  used,  would  be  so.  The  fact  would  re- 
main, however,  that  the  usual  telegraph  service  would  still  be  available  for  busi- 
ness demanding  more  rapid  collection  and  delivery.  The  plan  is  intended  to  take 
care  of  that  class  of  communications  which  will  stand  a delay  of  an  hour  or  two,  but 
not  of  a whole  day  or  more. 

In  regard  to  the  question  of  a written  receipt  from  addressee,  th  ‘ answer  is,  that, 
taking  the  whole  volume  of  post-office  matter  as  now  delivered  by  carriers,  the 
percentage  of  delivery  by  responsible  carriers  is  greater  than  in  the  case  of  telegraphic 
messages  delivered  by  irresponsible  messenger  boys.  Suppose  a case  of  a telegram  ar- 
riving at  its  (^stined  address.  The  achlressee,  if  present,  either  receives  it  in  person  or 
through  the  i.'.  .iurn  of  a servant,  employ^,  or  agent.  Now,  whether  a receipt  is  given 
or  not,  the  addressee  gets  the  communication.  If,  however,  the  addressee  is  absent  or 
occupied,  his  servant,  employti,  or  agent  receives  the  communication,  and,  whether  it 
is  receipted  for  or  not,  the  addressee  gets  it  promptly  if  his  agent  jierforms  his  duty. 
The  same  is  also  true  of  a letter  or  other  communication  sent  by  mail.  One  cause 
of  the  present  high  rates  charged  for  the  delivery  of  telegrams,  is  the  labor  and  time 
required  to  obtain  written  receipts,  which,  by  the  way,  are  now  very  frequently  sup- 
plied by  the  more  or  less  deft  hand  of  the  messenger  boy  himself,  for  it  is  a fact  that 
the  public  considers  the  giving  of  a written  receipt  for  a telegram  as  an  unnecessary 
burden  and  nuisance;  and  after  all,  why  should  one  sign  such  a receipt!  A tele- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


9 


graph  company  is  bound  to  deliver  a telegram  whether  a receipt  is  given  or  not. 
The  public  has  to  pay  the  extra  cost  involved,  and  that,  too,  with  the  certainty  that 
in  the  case  of  a claim  for  damages  the  telegraph  company  would,  to  that  extent  at 
least,  be  protected  against  the  payment  of  such  a claim.  The  other  point,  responsi- 
bility for  damages,  is  perhaps  the  most  important;  but  you  can  not  buy  something 
for  nothing,  and  for  the  class  of  communications  under  consideration,  and  in  view  of 
the  great  advantages  to  the  public  in  cheapness  and  in  added  convenience,  it  is  to  be 
submitted  lhat  the  telegraph  company  and  the  Department  may  fairly  be  relieved  of 
liability  for  damages  in  cases  of  loss,  error,  or  delay,  just  as  the  Department  is  now 
relieved  of  it  in  the  transmission  of  letters. 

IT  WOULD  PAY  THE  TELEGRAPH  COMPANIES. 

The  strenuous  opposition  of  the  telegraph  monopoly  to  the  limited  post  and  tele- 
graph plan  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  existing  companies,  or  company,  either 
want  to  sell  out  to  the  Government  at  a watered  valuation  or  else  they  are  not  yet 
convinced  that  the  plan  would  result  favorably  to  them  in  a financial  way  if  it  were 
tried.  For  myself  1 believe  that  they  would  make  money  by  the  contract ; and  ex- 
perts who  have  had  experience  for  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  in  the  telegraph  busi- 
ness in  all  its  branches — Government,  railroad,  news,  and  commercial — think  that 
if  the  proposed  plan  were  tried  it  would  immediately  become  so  popular  with  the 
public  that  it  would  very  soon,  if  not  from  the  start,  be  a remunerative  venture  to 
those  telegraph  companies  which  chose  to  hold  out  inducements  for  this  new  kind  of 
business.  It  is  a universal  experience  that,  in  transportation  by  whatever  method, 
lower  prices  and  better  facilities  bring  additional  business  and  increased  revenues. 
I find  this  proposition  so  evident  that  it  is  surprising  that  any  one  should  seriously 
argue  against  it.  As  early  as  1872  Mr.  William  Orton,  then  the  president  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  telegraph  con- 
tributed far  more  to  the  development  of  the  postal  service  than  it  drew  from  it  as  a 
result  of  its  competition;  which  was  to  say  that  between  any  two  cities  of  the 
United  States  the  increase  in  the  correspondence  by  mail  would  be  in  a larger  ratio 
than  the  increase  in  the  correspondence  by  telegraph,  whatever  that  increase  might 
he.  Mr.  Orton  felt  sure  that  the  telegraph,  so  far  from  detracting  from  the  revenues 
of  the  Post-Office  Deyiartment,  was  a constant  stimulant  to  increase  the  correspond- 
ence by  mail. 

Can  it  be  seriously  stated  that  the  reverse  is  not  true ; that  it  is  not  true  that  an 
increase  of  the  postal  business  mider  the  plan  which  I have  urged  with  much  per- 
sistence would  not  inevitably  cause  an  increase  in  the  business  of  the  telegraph  com- 
panies ? A book  full  of  figures  could  be  produced  to  show  that  the  successive  reduc- 
tions of  telegraph  rates  during  the  past  twenty-five  years  under  the  spur  of  postal 
telegraph  discussions  have  caused  unprecedented  increases  in  the  number  of  messages 
handled  from  year  to  year.  Dr.  Green  has  said  that  the  average  tolls  charged  to  the 
public  in  18t57  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  were  less  than  half  of  what 
it  cost  the  company  in  1868  to  handle  the  messages.  An  examination  of  the  business 
of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  between  two  periods,  1872  to  1880,  and  1881 
to  1889,  shows  irresistibly  that  the  Western  Union  has  managed  to  exist  under  suc- 
cessive reductions  of  rates  and  the  consequent  successive  increase  of  business.  From 
1872  to  1880  rates  were  reduced  by  the  Western  Union  from  62  to  38  cents,  or  42  per 
cent. 

During  that  time  the  number  of  messages  handled  increased  from  over  12,000,000 
to  over  29,000,000,  or  140  per  cent.  In  those  eight  years  the  profits  of  the  company 
j increased  from  $2,790,000  to  $5,833,000,  or  105  per  cent.  This  was  under  the  direc- 
' tion  of  Mr.  Vanderbilt  and  Mr.  Orton.  During  the  second  period,  under  Mr.  Gould 
and  Dr.  Green,  from  1881  to  1889,  the  Western  Union  rates  were  reduced  from  38  to 
31  cents,  and  the  number  of  tnessages  increased  from  over  32,000,000  to  over  58,000,000, 
or  67  per  cent.  It  may  be  suggested  as  an  objection  to  this  reasoning,  that  in  the 
growth  of  the  country  is  to  be  found  the  reason  for  this  increased  use  of  the  telegraph. 
But  the  increase  of  the  country  in  the  last  decade  has  been  perhaps,  30  per  cent., 
while  the  increase  of  the  Western  Union’s  business  has  been  almost  100  per  cent.; 
and  to  the  whole  proposition  it  is  simply  to  be  replied  that  we  have  Dr.  Green’s  re- 
peated word  for  it  that  the  class  in  this  country  which  uses  the  telegraph  is  not  over 
a million  and  is  not  capable  of  being  enlarged.  A conservative  financial  journal  in 
New  York,  recently  commenting  upon  the  latest  annual  report  of  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  and  representing  that  Western  Union  stock  was  a good  invest- 
ment at  market  rates,  said  : 

‘^It  now  carries  messages,  five  a year  (on  an  average)  to  the  eleven  million  business 
houses  and  families  of  this  land.  Make  it  also  the  letter  post  and  the  increase  will 
be  thirty  fold  with  the  income  fourfold  greater  than  at  present,  even  with  the  rate 
five-sixths  less.  The  Western  Union  Telegraph  is  bound  to  move  on,  for  lightning  is 
now  the  steed  that  progress  loves  most.”  • 


10 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


A.  few  officials  of  the  Western  Union  will  deny  to  yoiir  committee  or  to  members 
ot  Conf?ress  whom  they  fancy  they  will  be  able  to  influence  against  this  proposed 
legislation  that  the  above  statement  is  true.  The  proposition  is  simply  one  to  make 
them  earn  their  dividends  on  a large  business,  legitimately,  and  not  on  fictitious 
values.  They  ^\■ill  admit  that  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service  means  an  increase  to 
their  revenues.  If  this  is  the  fact  with  reference  to  the  principal  telegraph  company 
(the  only  one,  in  fact),  it  is  true  of  those  which  exist,  or  think  they  are  existing,  in- 
dependently of  it.  It  would  be  true  for  such  telegraph  companies  as  might  be  organ- 
ized and  operated  in  good  faith  on  the  not  unreasonable  prospect  that  they  might  bid 
successfully  for  a part  of  the  Government  work.  The  telegraph  service  can  not  be 
cheapened  and  quickened  under  the  existing  monopoly.  There  is  no  way  for  the 
people  to  get  relief  except  by  some  proper  intervention  by  the  Government,  such  as 
I am  endeavoring  to  outline  ; and  though  it  may  be  said  that  the  coffers  of  these  com- 
panies might  be  filled  more  quickly  under  the  stimulus  of  new  business,  it  can  be 
said  with  equal  truth  that  the  companies  would  have  to  work  for  their  extra  revenue. 
The  new  profit  wonld  be  duo,  not  to  a monopoly  of  all  the  telegraph  service  of  the 
country,  but  to  an  obliging  and  business-like  foresight  which  had  finally  consented 
to  obey  the  law  of  demand  and  supply.  The  extra  profits  would  be  earned,  not  upon 
the  watered  capitalization  of  a partly  worn-out  plant,  but  upon  the  fair  and  free  facil- 
ities which  you,  and  I,  and  all  of  us  must  offer,  if  we  hope  to  find  a market  for  our 
labor.  I am  not  sure  that  the  people,  freed  from  this  o^^pressive  monopoly  would 
not  of  their  own  accord  send  their  messages  for  the  reason  that  they  had,  as  it  were, 
an  interest  in  the  service.  At  any  rate  they  would  be  permitted  to  send  their  letters 
in  the  quickest  way,  if  they  had  the  means  to  pay  the  tolls;  and  they  would  have 
the  means,  because  prices  would  not  be  twice  too  high. 

I have  tried  to  show  that  telegraph  companies  operating  their  lines  under  the  pro- 
visions of  the  limited  post  and  telegraph  scheme  would  make  large  profits,  not  so 
much  by  monopolizing  all  the  business  and  charging  a fictitious  value  for  the  service, 
but  rather  by  honestly  meeting  the  popular  demand  for  a losver-priced  service.  I ask 
your  indulgence  for  a moment  to  show  by  still  another  illustration,  one  taken  from 
the  recent  history  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  that  this  idea  is  true.  The  general 
business  of  the  country  was  depreciated  in  1883,  when  letter  postage  was  reduced  from 
3 cents  to  2.  The  ordinary  po.stal  revenue  for  the  year  ended  June  30,  1883,  was 
almost  $45,000,000.  The  usual  increase  in  the  revenue,  if  the  3-cent  rate  had  continued 
to  prevail,  was  expected  from  past  experience  to  be  about  5 per  cent.  On  this  basis 
the  postal  revenue  for  the  year  ended  July  30,  1884,  would  have  been  something  over 
$47,000,000.  The  actual  revenue  for  that  year,  under  the  reduction  to  2 cents  for  let- 
ters, please  bear  in  mind,  was  almost  $43,000,000!  This  wasouly  10  per  cent.,  or  less, 
than  the  revenue  would  have  been  on  a 3-cent  basis.  In  the  face  of  this  reduction  of 
the  ])rincipal  item  of  postal  revenue  by  one-third,  there  was  a complete  recovery  of 
revenue  within  four  years  from  the  time  of  the  change,  and  that,  too,  in  spite  of  the 
depression  in  business  just  mentioned,  and  in  spite  of  these  other  two  things  : The  in- 
crease in  the  unit  of  weight  of  letters  from  one-half  ounce  to  an  ounce,  and  the  reduc- 
tion from  2 cents  per  pound  to  1 cent  per  pound  on  second-class  matter.  The  intro- 
duction of  the  postal  card  in  1873  was  followed  by  an  increase  of  over  7 per  cent,  in 
the  revenue,  and  that  in  spite  of  the  panic  of  that  year.  It  is  well-known  to  railroad 
people  that  the  establishment  of  fast  mails  invariably  results  in  large  additions  to  the 
amount  of  matter  carried.  In  Great  Britain  the  number  of  letters  carried  doubled 
in  two  years  after  the  inauguration  of  penny  postage.  In  the  year  following  the  be- 
ginning of  the  postal  telegraph  in  England  the  number  of  messages  transmitted  was 
over  8,500,000  ; in  1884  the  annual  number  was  over  32,800,000.  When  the  Belgians 
reduced  their  prices  for  the  transmission  of  postal  telegrams  to  10  cents  (half  a franc) 
the  number  of  business  messages  sent  promptlj^  increased  over  200  per  cent.,  and  the 
number  of  social  messages  increased  1,000  per  cent. 

MORE  EFFICIENT  AS  WELL  AS  LOWER  PRICED. 

The  telegraph  service  of  this  country  must  be  cheaper.  I have  tried  to  show  why, 
by  the  method  just  set  forth,  it  may  be  cheapened  now.  I believe  the  service  could 
also  be  made  more  efficient  under  the  postal  telegraph.  Thousands  of  Western 
Union  operators  are  what  are  called  railroad  operators ; that  is,  if  I understand  it, 
they  are  employed  at  railroad  stations,  principally  by  railroad  companies,  to  bulletin 
and  record  the  movements  of  trains.  They  are  not  skilled  operators.  Operators 
in  the  free  delivery  cities,  being  required  to  do  work  of  a large  variety  and  to  do 
more  of  it,  would  command  higher  prices  and  would  be  better  men.  The  effect 
upon  the  whole  body  of  telegraph  operators  would  be  beneficial  for  this  reason : the 
operators  in  the  smaller  places,  to  which  the  ])lan  would  almost  inevitably  and  prop- 
erly extend,  would  even  more  be  required  to  be  expert  and  faithful.  There  would 
be  a general  upward  movement  among  all  the  15,000  of  the  craft.  If  in  some  offices 
clerks  who  know  the  art  of  telegraphy  were  to  be  required,  the  present  clerks 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


11 


could  learn  to  handle  the  key ; or  new  men,  under  the  increase  of  business, 
revenue,  and  salary  allowance,  could  be  selected  by  proper  examinations.  I know 
it  has  been  said  that  men  and  women  can  not  learn  telegraphy  with  ease.  Dr.  Green 
has  said  that  it  takes  months  to  learn  the  telegraph  tick.’^  This  is  no  doubt  true, 
hut  this  same  astute  Ur.  Green  had  no  trouble  in  tilling  the  places  of  the  striking 
telegraph  operators  in  1883. 

Mr.  Beaumont,  whom  I have  already  quoted,  has  said  that  when  operators  belong- 
ing to  District  Assembly  45  of  the  Knights  of  l^abor,  noticing  that  the  Western  Union 
Company  was  paying  great  dividends  on  watered  stock,  and  thinking  that  some  of 
the  workmen  ought  to  share  in  this  prosperity,  struck  for  a raise  in  wages,  Dr.  Green 
did  not  hesitate  to  put  boys  and  girls  into  positions  of  responsibility  on  a day’s 
notice.  We  know  that  this  was  done  in  thousands  of  cases  ; we  know  that  the  serv- 
ice recovered  from  its  ailment  in  a short  time.  The  strike  showed  that  while  the  tele- 
graph company  rniglit  monopolize  the  handling  of  messages,  the  organized  body  of 
operators  could  not  monopolize  the  furnishing  of  workmen.  With  some  incentive 
besides  the  prospect  of  the  poor  wage  scale  of  the  Western  Union,  the  art  of  telegraphy 
would  receive  a most  ])erceptiblo  encouragement  in  this  country.  It  has  been  said 
that  one-third  of  all  the  telegraph  operators  are  continually  preparing  themselves 
for  other  professions,  and  that  the  other  two-thirds  are  continually  thinking  of  doing 
so.  According  to  the  Electric  World,  of  the  100  men  working  on  the  regular  night 
force  in  the  Western  Union  main  ofhee  in  New  York  City,  36  are  either  studying  or 
working  at  something  else  during  the  day.  In  these  occupations  are,  doctors,  8; 
lawyers,  6;  ministers,  3;  brokers,  3;  actors,  2 ; theatrical  managers,  2;  real  estate 
dealers,  2;  inventors,  2;  book  agent,  1 ; manufacturer,  1 ; civil  engineer,  1 ; author, 
1;  commercial  business,  1;  electrical  special  agent,  1;  composer  of  music,  1.  Now, 
either  these  men  are  bad  ministers  and  bad  actors,  or  else  they  are  bad  operators.  In 
either  case  they  are  not  making  the  most  of  themselves.  I suppose  they  would  not 
venture  into  fields  outside  of  telegraphy  if  they  were  not  poorly  paid  and  poorly 
encouraged  to  excel.  The  question  whether  employment  with  a corporation  which 
might  lock  out  its  employes  ui)on  the  slightest  provocation,  to  the  peril  of  the  business 
interests  of  the  whole  country,  would  be  desirable,  would  not  be  the  only  question 
'with  the  young  men  and  women  desirous  of  learning  the  art.  This  monopoly  would 
be  only  a part  empoyer  of  all  the, telegraphic  skill  in  the  conntr}'. 

Since  the  introduction  of  the  quadruplex  twenty  years  ago,  the  Western  Union 
Comj)any  has,  I am  told,  made  but  one  change  or  improvement  in  its  method  of  tele- 
graphic transmission  having  for  their  object  the  greater  speed  or  the  transmission  of 
a larger  volume  of  traffic  of  a given  wire.  1 refer  to  the  Wheatstone  Automatic,  an 
English  invention,  which  has  been  in  successful  use  on  the  government  lines  in  that 
country  for  eight  or  ten  jears.  On  the  other  hand,  England  has  not  only  adopted 
our  quadruplex,  but  also  the  Delaney  Multiplex,  another  American  invention. 
And  this  brings  mo  to  another  thought  which  is  very  forcibly  discussed  in  Appendix  E. 
Besides  furnishing  a stimulant  to  the  study  and  use  of  efficient  telegraphy,  the  postal 
telegraph  plan,  dividing  as  it  would  the  entire  use  of  the  telegraph  in  this  country 
with  the  sole  telegraph  monopol> , would  also  furnish  an  impetus  to  the  inventive 
genius  of  the  Americans  who  study  electrical  matters.  I have  had  enumerated,  per- 
haps, a score  of  devices,  already  patented  for  the  purpose  of  cheapening  and  quicken- 
ing the  telegraph  service,  which  find  no  use  and  no  profit  under  the  present  condition. 
I am  not  an  expert  in  electrical  matters,  but  I know  that  all  of  these  inventions  can 
not  be  wholly  bad.  I am  sure  that  many  of  them  are  good,  but  they  can  not  be  got 
into  operation  with  the  field  monopolized.  The  public  can  not  have  the  benefit  of 
this  rare  class  of  American  brains,  nor  can  the  inventors  find  a deserved  remunera- 
tion for  their  work.  The  Western  Union  Company,  having  the  control  of  the  tele- 
graph business,  has  no  us  for  devices  which  cheapen  and  quicken  the  telegraph  serv- 
ice and  warrant  a claim  for  reduction  of  rates.  The  public,  not  knowing  what  it 
misses,  can  not  become  aroused  to  the  defects  in  methods  now  in  vogue.  If  once  a 
break  is  made  in  this  rampart  of  telegraph  monopoly,  not  only  will  the  men  and 
women  who  build  and  use  the  telegraph  wires  find  a better  market  for  their  fidelity 
and  skill,  but  inventors,  knowing  that  their  cases  are  to  be  tried  befoie  an  impartial 
court,  will  also  find  a spur  to  better  efforts.  I can  not  enumerate  the  devices  intended 
to  cheapen  telegraphy  and  distinctly  not  made  use  of  by  the  Western  Union  at  this 
time;  but  I ask  you  to  examine  the  appendix,  or  better  still,  see  by  personal  exami- 
nation, if  some  of  the  inventors  are  not  prepared  to  show  the  efficacy  of  their  efforts 
as  well  as  the  futility  of  them  under  the  Western  Union  domination. 

BY  WAY  OF  EXPLANATION. 

I desire  in  conclusion  to  explain,  as  politely  as  may  he,  one  or  two  things  that  are 
not  understood.  I have  challenged  the  most  rigid  scrutiny  of  the  limited  postal  tele- 
graph bill.  I ask  to  have  printed  all  of  the  printed  criticisms  of  it  which  have  come 
to  my  notice,  as  an  argument  in  its  favor.  The  limited  postal  telegraph  bill  is  not  a 
proposition  to  take  money  from  the  Treasury  or  to  employ  additional  civil  servants; 


12 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


it  is  not  a proposition  to  put  auy  power  whatever  in  the  hands  of  the  Government, 
which  is  not  at  present  greater  and  more  dangerous  where  it  is.  It  is  a proposition 
simply  to  dovetail  together  two  great  machines  so  that  one  shall  do  business  equi- 
tably and  by  that  means  make  more  money  (which  shall  be  willingly  accorded  to 
it  by  the  people) ; the  other  to  utilize  its  present  skilled  and  faithful  energy  to  help 
supply  the  people  with  still  better  means  of  communication  furnished  still  more 
cheaply.  It  is  a proposition  incidentally  to  quicken  the  telegraph  service  by  en- 
couraging all  the  members  of  the  operators’  craft  to  realize  that  they  are  the 
better  off  the  more  they  are  able  to  devote  themselves  to  on6  thing  and  are  permitted 
to  see  some  result  from  their  inventive  genius.  It  is  not  a proposition  to  buy  the 
railroads,  or  the  coal  mines,  or  the  saw-mills  or  the  bake  shops  of  the  country.  It 
is  not  a confession  that  American  ingenuity  is  incapable  of  keepnig  up  with  the 
march  of  mercantile  and  industrial  progress. 

I am  proud  to  imitate  so  good  a patriot  as  Postmaster-General  Creswell,  who  did 
not  shirk  the  responsibility  of  appearing  before  the  committees  of  Congress,  when  he 
was  invited,  to  explain  why  he  believed  in  the  reforms  that  he  advocated.  lu  1872 
Mr.  Creswell  remarked  upon  the  fact  that  Mr.  Orton,  then  the  president  of  the  AVest- 
ern  Union,  had  taken  it  upon  himself  to  deal  somewhat  facetiously  with  the  report 
of  the  Postmaster-General,  and  to  express  himself  in  terms  of  commiseration  for  the 
weakness  therein  displayed.  Mr.  Creswell  frankly  admitted  that  he  had  been  labor- 
ing under  a disadvantage.  He  had  had,  he  said,  not  one  dollar  of  public  money  at 
his  disposal  except  what  had  been  used  by  the  assignment  of  a single  department 
clerk  to  the  duty  of  gathering  information.  Mr.  Orton  had  thought  it  proper,  he 
said,  to  designate  the  statements  of  the  Postmaster-General  as  the  mere  vaporings  of 
an  ignoramus.  He  should  not  hesitate  to  hud  the  facts  in  the  discussion,  if  he  could, 
no  matter  if  it  did  displease  Mr.  Orton.  “I  wish  it  to  be  understood,”  he  concluded, 

“ that  a display  of  mere  temper  by  anybody  will  not  control  or  affect  my  action.” 

History  repeats  itself.  March  1,  1890,  Dr.  Green,  the  present  president  of  the  AA’’est-  . 
ern  Union,  said  of  the  present  Postmaster-General  that  he  might  congratulate  him- 
self that  he  can  “smile  and  smile,  aud  murder  while  he  smiles.”  “ We  propose,”  Dr.,  ; 
Green  continued,  “to  controvert  that  order  [the  order  fixing  Goverument  rates]  in 
the  courts,  and  demonstrate  that  that  is  not  one-half  of  the  cost  of  the  service.”  “I  ' 
never  before  heard  of  a Cabinet  officer,”  the  astute  doctor  said,  continuing  his  rhap-  ' 
sody,  “going  to  all  the  meetings  of  a committee,  urging  the  adoption  of  his  pet 
schemes,  which  have  not  been  recommended  by  the  President.”  After  thus  accord-  i 
ing  to  the  President  the  privilege  of  “lobbying”  your  honorable  committee  and  t 
barring  the  Postmaster-General  out  cf  this  privilege.  Dr.  Green  coucluded  to  put  the 
members  of  your  committee  ou  their  guard  against  him.  “The  Postmaster-General,” 
he  said,  “has  got  a great  many  appointments,  and  every  Member  of  Congress  has 
several  of  them  in  his  district.”  Here  is  the  old  story  repeated.  The  special  interest 
may  spend  no  end  of  money  and  never  question  means  to  gain  its  point;  but  there 
must  be  no  one  to  speak  for  the  public.  There  is  no  dollar  to  be  spent  for  a real  re-  ' 
form.  t 

But  I have  another  good  illustration  of  the  trite  saying  that  history  repeats  itself.  ' 
In  the  printed  report  of  one  of  the  hearings  of  1^72  occurs  a foot-note  signed  “ W.  ( 
O.”  It  says  that  an  apology  is  due  to  the  public  for  having  provoked  a Cabinet  min-  ' 
ister  to  forget  the  proprieties.  Mr.  Orton  adds  that  respect  for  the  Committee  and  for  * 
the  office  of  Postmaster-General  restrained  him  from  making  answer  on  the  spot,  to 
the  refiection  upon  his  veracity  implied  iu  the  Postmaster-General’s  request  that  Mr. 
Orton  give  his  information  “under  oath.”  On  March  3,  of  this  year.  Dr.  Green  sent  a ^ 
letter  to  the  chairman  of  your  honorable  committee,  to  say  that  in  the  hurry  of  the 
moment  he  had  forgotten  to  express  his  profound  appreciation  of  the  kind  and  court-  J 
eons  treatment  which  the  committee  had  extended  to  him,  and  he  had  also  forgotten-^  ^ 
to  express  his  entire  confidence  in  the  fairness  and  impartiality  with  which  it  w^asin-  " 
vestigating  the  subject  under  consideration.  He  further  said  that  he  wanted  to  take  x 
back  the  expression  “ coaching”  the  committee,  which  the  chairman  had  spiritedly  . 
objected  to,  aud  substitute  for  it  the  word  “urging.”  It  is  the  same  fight  now  that  ^ 
it  always  has  been.  The  special  interest  must  be  sacrificed  to  the  general. 

If  others  speak  out  for  the  telegraph  stockholders  some  one  must  stand  for  the  peo- 
ple iu  the  interest  of  the  cheaper  telegraphy  that  they  want.  I believe  it  belongs  to 
this  Department  to  take  this  stand,  and  I propose  iutelligeutly  and  persistently  to  ^ 
keep  this  subject  before  you  iu  strong  confidence  that  it  will  not  be  long  before  your 
committee  will  take  steps  to  give  the  people  the  relief  prayed  for. 

A''ery  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  | 

John  AA'anamaker,  Oi 

Postmaster-General.  yj 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


13 


Appendix  A. 

FINAL  DRAFT  OF  THE  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  BILL  SUBMITTED  BY  THE 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL  FOR  THE  CONSIDERATIO S'  OF  THE  HOUSE 

COMMITTEE  OF  THE  POST-OFFICE  AND  POST-ROADS  OF  THE  FIFTY- 

FIRST  CONGRESS. 

A BILL  to  establish  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service,  and  for  other  purposes. 

Sec.  1 . Be  it  tnacled  hy  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of 
America  in  Congress  assembled,  That  for  the  pui  pose  of  facilitating  the  transmission  of 
correspondence  among  the  people  of,  and  promoting  commerce  between,  the  several 
Stiates  and  Territories  of  the  United  States,  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service  is 
hereby  established  as  a bureau  or  part  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  for  the  deposit, 
fransmission,  and  delivery  of  postal  telegrams  through  the  medium  of  the  post-office 
service  as  herein  provided.  All  post-offices  at  incorporated  cities,  villages  and 
boroughs  where  the  free  delivery  service  now  exists,  and  the  offices  of  the  telegraph 
companies  referred  to  in  section  two  of  this  act,  shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations, 
and  in  addition  thereto  the  Postmaster-General  may,  from  time  to  time,  designate  other 
post-offices  and  telegraph  offices  thereat  as  postal-telegraph  stations 

Sec.  2.  For  the  i)nr})08e  of  putting  this  act  into  effect  the  Postmaster-General, 
after  inviting  pio]>osals  by  public  advertisement,  shall  contract  with  one  or  more 
telegraph  companies,  now  in  existence,  or  that  may  hereafter  he  incorporated,  for  a 
period  often  years,  under  such  conditions  as  he  may  deem  best,  consistent,  however, 
with  all  the  provisions  of  this  act,  for  the  transmission  of  postal-telegrams,  on  the 
terms  and  at  the  rates  of  tolls  herinafter  s})ecilied  ; Provided,  That  said  rates  may 
be  reduced  \)y  the  consent  of  the  parties  to  said  contract,  at  anj^  time  during  its  con- 
tinuance. 

Sec.  3.  All  telegrams  received  by  the  contracting  company  or  companies  for  trans- 
mission, whether  postal  telegrams  or  otherwise,  shall  be  sent  in  the  order  of  tiling, 
except  that  priority  shall  be  given  to  telegrams  relating  to  the  business  of  the  Govern- 
ment. No  liability  shall  attach  to  the  Post-Office  Department  on  account  of  delays 
or  errors  in  the  transmission  or  delivery  of  postal  telegrams. 

Sec.  4.  The  charges  for  the  transmission  and  delivery  of  postal  telegrams,  other 
than  postal  money- order  and  special  delivery  telegrams,  and  telegrams  relating  to 
the  business  of  the  Government,  shall  not  exceed  the  rates  stated  in  this  section ; 
Provided,  That  in  no  case  shall  the  rates  on  postal  telegrams  exceed  those  of  the  con- 
tracting company  or  companies  on  any  other  class  of  business  which  they  may  do, 
the  rates  on  yiress  reports  excepted. 

For  the  first  twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature,  between  postal 
telegraph  stations  within  any  one  State  or  Territory,  and  between  such  stations, 
mot  iu  the  same  State  or  Territory,  and  less  than  three  hundred  miles  distant  from 
each  other,  fifteen  cents. 

Between  postal  telegraph  stations  not  less  than  three  hundred  miles  apart  and  not 
in  the  same  State,  east  of  and  including  the  States  of  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Mississippi,  twenty-five  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less. 

Between  postal-telegraph  stations  not  less  than  three  hundred  miles  apart  and  not 
in  the  same  State  or  Territory,  west  of  and  including  the  States  of  Minnesota, 
Iowa,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana,  twenty-five  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words 
or  less. 

Between  postal  telegraph  stations  within  the  following  named  States,  and  not  less 
than  three  hundred  miles  apart,  and  not  in  the  same  State,  twenty -five  cents  for  the 
first  twenty  words  or  less,  viz : Alabama,  Arkansas,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Ken- 
tucky, Louisiana,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and  Wis- 
consin. 

Between  all  other  postal  telegraph  stations  not  provided  for  above,  fifty  cents  for 
the  first  twenty  words  or  less. 

The  charges  for  all  words  in  excess  of  the  first  twenty  words  shall  he  at  the  rate  of 
one  cent  per  word. 

The  charges  for  the  transmission  of  all  telegrams  relating  to  the  business  of  the 
Government,  and  passing  between  its  Departments,  their  officers,  agents,  and  em- 
ployes, and  persons  whom  they  may  address,  shall  be  those  annually  fixed  by  the 
Postmaster-General,  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Section  5266  of  the  Revised 
Statutes. 

Prepayment  of  replies  to  postal  telegrams  not  exceeding  twenty  words,  counting 
address  and  signature,  may  he  made  at  the  office  from  which  the  original  telegram  is 
transmitted.  ' 

Sec.  5.  That  the  money-order  service  of  the  Post-Office  Department  shall,  as  soon 


14 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


as  practicable,  be  adapted,  under  sucb  rules  and  regulations  as  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral shall  prescribe,  to  the  limited  post  and  telegraph  service  between  such  post- 
offices  as  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  designated  by  him  as  postal-telegraph  money- 
order  offices  ; and  the  fees  for  postal  telegraph  money-orders  shall  be  double  the  rates 
now  charged  for  domestic  money-orders  in  addition  to  double  the  charge  for  postal 
telegrams  of  twenty  words;  but  no  postal-telegraph  money-order  shall  exceed  in 
amount  one  hundred  dollars;  and  the  provisions  of  section  4 of  the  act  of  March  3, 
1883,  and  of  section  2 of  the  act  of  June  29,  1886,  in  regard  to  compensation  of  post- 
masters for  the  transaction  of  money-order  business  and  allowances  for  money-order 
clerks  shall  apply  to  telegraph  money-order  business : Provided,  That  the  Post- 
master-General may  allow  to  postmasters  at  hrst-class  offices,  whom  he  may  desig- 
nate to  perform  special  money-order  duties  under  this  act  not  required  of  other  post- 
masters, such  amount  in  each  case  as  he  may  deem  expedient  for  the  clerical  service 
required  for  such  duties,  and  the  cost  of  stationery  and  such  other  incidental  ex- 
penses as  are  necessary  for  the  transaction  of  that  business  may  be  paid  out  of  the 
proceeds  thereof. 

The  provisions  of  section  5463,  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  as  amended 
by  the  act  of  Congress  approved  January  3,  1887,  concerning  the  falsely  forging,  coun- 
terfeiting, engraving,  or  printing  of  money-orders,  and  the  altering  of  the  same,  and 
the  passing,  uttering,  or  publishing  of  any  false,  forged,  counterfeited,  or  altered 
money-order  be,  and  they  are  hereby,  extended  so  as  to  include  postal  money-orders 
issued  under  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Sec.  6.  Payment  by  the  Post-Office  Department  to  the  telegi  aph  company  or  com- 
panies for  the  transmission  of  postal  telegrams  shall  be  made  quarterljq  or,  it  prac- 
ticable, at  shorter  intervals,  on  the  basis  of  allowing  to  said  companies  all  the  charges 
therefor,  less  the  charge  for  the  postage  at  the  rates  fixed  by  law  on  mail  matter  of 
the  first-class ; and  for  the  transmission  of  postal  money-order  telegrams  all  the 
charges,  less  the  postal  charge  and  fees  due  the  Post-Office  Department.  The  tele- 
graph company  or  companies  shall,  upon  forms  prescribed  and  approved  by  the  Post- 
master-General, render  accounts  to  the  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  for  the  Post-Office  , 
Department  for  their  services  aforesaid  for  each  quarter  of  the  fiscal  year  as  fixed  by  . 
law,  or  more  frequently  if  practicable,  and  the  Auditor  shall  without  delay  audit  and  • 
report  the  same  to  the  Postmaster-General  for  settlernent  and  payment,  as  in  the  case  ; 
of  other  accounts  audited  by  him.  The  original  i^ostal  telegrams  transmitted  by  the 
telegraph  company  or  companies  shall  be  filed  with  the  Auditor  as  vouchers  with  . 
said  account.  After  the  lapse  of  thirty  days  from  the  complete  settlement  of  the  j 
accounts  for  each  quarter,  and  the  payments  thereunder,  the  telegrams  aforesaid  , 
shall  be  destroyed  under  such  rules  as  the  Postmaster-General  shall  prescribe,  and  ; 
all  copies  thereof  shall  also  be  destroyed  under  such  regulations  and  at  such  times  , 
as  he  may  designate,  not  exceeding  thirty  days  after  the  date  of  the  settlement  of  the 
accounts  to  which  they  apply. 

Sec.  7.  The  Postmaster-General  may  in  his  discretion  provide  for  the  use  of  the  ; 
telegraph  companies  suitable  space  or  room  at  i)Ostal- telegraph  stations  in  buildings  ; 
leased  or  rented  by  the  Post-Office  Department,  and  in  such  portions  of  buildings  i 
owned  by  the  Government  as  are  set  apart  for  the  uses  of  post-offices,  and  the  corri-  | 
dors  and  passages  appurtenant  thereto.  Nothing,  however,  herein  contained  shall  ^ 
be  construed  to  prevent  the  telegraph  company  from  occupying  offices  at  postal-tele-  : 
graph  stations  separate  and  apart  from  buildings  occupied  by  post-offices,  nor  as  con-  t 
stituting  the  right  in  the  telegraph  company  to  require  the  Postmaster-General  to  ; 
furnish  space  or  room  for  the  telegraph  company  whenever  in  his  judgment  it  can. 
not  be  done  without  injury  to  the  postal  service.  ; 

Sec.  8.  The  telegraph' company  or  companies,  parties  to  the  contract  provided  for 
herein,  shall  construct,  lease,  or  acquire,  equip,  maintain,  and  operate,  all  telegraph 
lines  necessary  to  comply  with  the  provisions  of  this  act  and  the  conditions  of  the  i 
contract  to  be  executed  hereunder,  and  shall  employ  at  their  own  expense  all  officers, 
operators,  and  employes,  for  the  transmission  of  postal  telegrams,  except  those  who 
are  employed  in  the  collection  and  delivery  thereof.  If,  with  the  consent  of  the  Post- 
master-General, the  postmasters  at  postal  telegraph  stations  shall  act  as  operators  for ; 
the  telegrhph  company  or  companies,  they  shall  be  compensated  for  their  services  by  „ 
a uniform  percentage  on  the  tolls  of  each  telegram  handled  by  them,  or  by  some  other 
share  thereof,  to  be  agreed  upon  by  the  company  and  the  Postmaster-General,  and  to 
be  paid  for  by  the  company.  . ..  c ^ ^ 

Sec.  9.  That  within  two  years  from  the  approval  of  this  act  at  least  one-half  of  the  J 
postal-telegraph  stations  contemplated  by  it  shall  be  connected  by  the  wires  of  the> 
telegraph  company  or  companies;  within  the  next  succeeding  year  after  said  con-'| 
nection  shall  be  completed  at  least  one-halt  of  the  remainder  shall  be  connected  ; andj 
connections  to  all  said  postal-telegraph  stations  shall  be  made  within  one  year  after! 
the  time  last  mentioned:  Provided,  That  the  contracting  telegraph  company  or  con^-'| 
panics  shall  not  be  required  to  build  or  furnish  a line  to  connect  with  any  free  deliv-S 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  15 

very  office  more  than  one  hundred  miles  distant  by  land  line  from  the  nearest  other 
free-delivery  office. 

Sec.  10.  Before  or  at  the  time  the  contract  contemplated  by  this  act  shall  be  exe- 
cuted by  any  telegraph  com})any,  such  company  shall  tile  with  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral an  agreement  in  writing  of  its  acce])tance  of  the  restrictions,  obligations,  and 
conditions,  so  far  as  they  are  not  superseded  by  the  provisions  of  this  act,  of  sections 
5263  to  5269  inclusive,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  and  thereupon 
the  privileges  and  benefits  of  said  sections  shall  inure  to  said  company. 

Sec.'*11.  Nothing  in  this  act  contained  shall  operate  to  prevent  any  telegraph  com- 
pany from  performing  business  for  the  public  as  the  same  is  now  done:  Provided, 
hoivever,  That  it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  the  contracting  telegraph  company  or  com- 
panies, during  the  term  of  any  contract  provided  for  therein,  to  engage  directly  or 
indirectly  in  the  sale  of  press  reports,  election  reports,  market  quotations,  or  general 
news,  or  be  interested  in  the  sale  of  any  such  reports,  quotations,  or  news,  by  reason 
of  the  ownership,  as  a company,  of  stock,  bonds,  or  securities,  or  by  or  through  any 
contract  or  arrangement  with  any  individual,  firm,  company,  or  association  engaged 
in  such  sale,  beyond  the  service  of  transmitting  such  reports,  quotations,  or  news,  in 
the  form  of  telegrams,  at  rates  which  shall  be  uniform  to  all  who  may  send  such  tele- 
grams over  the  lines  of  the  said  companj^  or  companies. 

Sec.  12.  Postmasters  shall  be  compensated  for  the  postage  portion  of  stamps  and 
telegram  forms  used  in  the  transmission  of  telegrams  as  they  are  now  compensated 
for  postage  on  other  matter,  and  they  shall  report  sales  and  cancellations  of  such 
stamps  and  forms  separately  with  their  (luarterly  returns.  To  simplify  such  returns 
and  the  settlement  thereof,  the  Postmaster  General  may,  in  his  discretion,  provide 
telegranf  stamps,  as  well  as  telegram  forms  ; and,  in  case  he  does  so,  the  words  ‘‘post- 
age*stamp8,”  as  they  appear  in  this  act,  shall  be  construed  to  also  include  postal- 
telegram  stamps. 

Sec.  13.  The  provisions  of  section  5464  of  the  Revised  Statutes  ot  the  United 
States  relating  to  the  forging  or  counterfeiting  of  postage-stamps,  stamps  printed 
upon  stamped  envelopes,  or  postal  cards,  or  any  die,  plate,  or  engraving  therefor ; 
and  to  the  using,  or  having  in  possession  with  intent  to  use  or  sell,  any  forged  or 
counterfeited  postage-stamp,  stamped  envelopes,  postal-card,  die,  plate,  and  engrav- 
ing, be,  and  they  are  hereby,  extended  and  apidied,  including  the  punishment  for 
violations  of  said  statutes,  to  the  forging  and  counterfeiting  of  postal-telegram  forms, 
and  the  dies,  plates,  or  engravings  therefor,  and  to  the  unlawful  selling  and  using  of 
the  same. 

Sec.  14.  Any  person  employed  in  any  department  of  the  postal  service,  or  in  any 
department  of  the  telegraph  company  or  companies  under  contract  with  the  Post-Of- 
fice Department,  agreeably  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  who  shall,  except  as  pro- 
vided herein,  secrete  or  destroy  any  postal-telegram  intrusted  to  him,  or  which  shall 
come  into  his  possession,  and  which  was  intended  to  be  transmitted  by  telegraph,  or 
to  be  carried  or  delivered  by  any  mail  carrier,  mail  messenger,  route  agent,  letter 
carrier,  or  other  person  employed  in  the  postal  service,  or  by  said  telegraph  company 
or  companies,  or  who  shall  expose  or  make  knowi^the  contents  of  such  telegram,  un- 
less so  authorized  by  the  sender  or  addressee  thereof,  shall  be  imprisoned  at  hard 
labor  for  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more  than  three  years. 

Sec.  15.  Before  entering  upon  their  duties  as  such  all  persons  employed  by  the  tel- 
egraph compan3^  or  companies  referred  to  herein,  as  officers,  operators,  messengers, 
clerks,  book-keepers,  or  in  any  other  capacity,  or  to  whom  postal-telegrams  shall  be 
in  anywise  intrusted,  shall  take  and  subscribe,  before  some  magistrate  or  other  officer 
authorized  to  administer  oaths  by  the  laws  of  the  Uuite^  States,  or  of  any  State  or 
Territory  an  oath  or  affirmation  in  such  form  as  the  Postmaster-General  may  pre- 
scribe, and  conformably"  to  the  laws  relating  to  oaths  and  affirmations. 

Sec.  16.  The  Postmaster-General,  by"  and  with  the  advice  andconsentof  the  Presi- 
dent, may  conclude  treaties  or  conventions  with  foreign  countries  for  the-  extension 
and  connection  cf  the  postal- telegraph  service,  including  the  interchange  of  postal- 
telegraph  money-orders,  between  them  and  the  United  States. 

Sec.  17.  The  Postmaster-General  is  hereby  authorized  to  prescribe  rules  and  regula- 
tions, not  inconsistent  with  law,  for  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  this  act  and  for 
the  conduct  of  the  service  for  which  it  provides. 


16 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITfES. 


Appendix  B. 

RESOLUTIONS  OF  ORGANIZED  BODIES  OF  LABOR  AND  CAPITAL  IN  BE- 
HALF OF  POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

Trades’  Council  Chamber, 
Spokane  Falls,  TTasli.,  March  4,  1890. 

Dear  Sir:  I have  the  honor  to  transmit  to  you  a copy  of  resolutions  introduced  by 
me  and  unanimously  passed  by  at  least  twenty-five  hundred  citizens  in  mass  conven- 
tion assembled  on  March  2d.  I hope  it  may  be  encouraging  to  you  to  know  that 
the  industrial  masses  here  are  taking  so  much  interest  in  your  efforts  to  give  our 
country  a postal  telegraph  system.  That  your  efforts  may  be  crowned  with  success 
is  the  wish  of  all  who  feel  the  grasp  of  our  present  telegraph  system  upon  them. 
Very  truly,  yours, 

Wm.  H.  Galvini, 

Chairman  Convention, 

District  Master  Workman,  District  Assembly,  K.  of  L,,  etc. 
Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster -General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Trades’  Council  Chamber, 
Spokane  Falls,  Wash.,  March  4,  1890. 

Resolutions  introduced  by  Wm.  H.  Galvini,  and  unanimously^adopted  by  amass 
convention  of  Knights  of  Labor,  trades,  and  labor  organizations  of  Spokane  Falls? 
Wash.,  March  2,  1890: 

Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  framed  a bill  for  a postal  telegraph  system 
and  the  same  is  now  pending  before  the  United  Stares  Congress;  and 

Whereas  the  only  objection  so  far  raised  is  that  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  that  the  passage  of  such  a bill  would  interfere  with  the  affairs  of  that 
gigantic  monopoly  : Therefore  bo  it 

Resolved,  That  we,  the  representatives  of  the  industrial  masses  of  Spokane  Falls, 
Wash.,  in  mass  convention  assembled,  demand  the  passage  of  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral’s bill;  and 

Resolved,  That  a failure  to  pass  this  bill  will  be  considered  as  a clear  indication 
that  Congress  takes  more  interest  in  the  affairs  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  than  in  those  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  ; and 

Resolved,  That  a copy  of  these  resolutions  be  transmitted  to  the  honorable  John 
Wanamaker,  Postmaster-General,  and  to  the  Senators  and  Representatives  from  the 
State  of  Washington. 

Wm.  H.  Galvini, 

Chairman  Convention. 


[From  the  Philadelphia  Ledger  of  March  11,  1890.] 

At  a meeting  of  the  United  Labor  League,  President  Bisbing  in  the  chair,  last 
evening,  Secretary  William  H.  Barrett  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was 
unanimously  adopted  : 

Whereas  the  efforts  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  in  behalf  of  the  postal  tele- 
graph scheme  proposed  by  him  are  deserving  of  encouragement,  inasmuch  as  such  a. 
measure  is  calculated  to  greatly  benefit  the  people  at  large. 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  all  classes  of  citizens  are  clue  the  Postmaster-General 
for  his  efficient  work  in  this  direction,  and  that  the  members  of  the  United  Labor 
League  hereby  extend  the  same  and  wish  him  success. 


new  YORK  BOARD  OF  TRADE  AND  TRANSPORTATION. 

Resolutions  favoring  the  establishment  of  a limited  postal  telegraph  as  a bureau  or  part 
of  the  Post-Office  Department  of  the  United  States. 

[Adopted  March  12, 1890.] 

Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  draughted  an  act  to  establish  a limited  postal 
telegraph  system  between  all  carrier  delivery  post-offices,  by  which  the  usefulness  of 
the  telegraph  will  be  greatly  extended  and  the  public  given  a uniform  service  at  a 
much  lower  rate  than  "that  charged  by  existing  companies  ; and 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


17 


Whereas  the  first  telegraph  line  was  constructed  between  Washington  and  Balti- 
more with  an  appropriation  made  by  Congress  and  placed  under  the  superintendance 
of  the  Postmaster-General,  who  adopted  regulations  to  bring  it  into  constant  service 
as  a means  of  transmitting  intelligence  accessible  to  all  and  prescribed  the  rate  of 
postage  ; but  this  great  instrumentality  for  good  was  aferwards  allowed  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  corporations,  which  have  used  it  as  a means  to  tax  the  public  for  this 
most  important  system  of  conveying  intelligence  ; and 

Whereas  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  of  importance  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  that  does  not  operate  the  telegraph  as  a part  of  the  post-office  system  ; and 

Whereas  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  representing  .the  principal  commercial 
■organizations  of  the  country,  and  this  board  have  repeatedly  passed  resolutions  favor- 
ing a postal  telegraph,  and  various  measures  have  been  recommended  by  the  different 
'Postmaster-Generals  and  committees  of  Congress  to  this  end,  and  have  been  defeated 
by  the  influence  of  the  great  corporations  that  now  control  the  telegraph  business  of 
the  country,  and  in  whose  board  of  directors  leading  men  in  both  political  parties  are 
found  : 

liesolved,  That  this  board  re  affirms  its  previous  declarations  favoring  the  increased 
usefulness  of  the  telegraph  in  connection  with  our  postal  system,  and  although  we 
would  prefer  to  see  the  Government  own  and  operate  its  own  lines,  yet  we  welcome 
the  proposition  of  the  present  Postmaster-General  as  a step  in  the  right  direction  and 
heartily  commend  same  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress. 

A true  copy.  , 

Darwin  R.  James,  Secretary. 

The  Postmaster-General. 


The  Board  of  Trade  of  Jersey  City, 

Jersey  City,  N.  J.,  March  17,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : At  a meeting  of  the  Board  of  Trade  of  Jersey  City,  held  this  day,  a res- 
olution was  adopted  favoring  the  passage  bj”^  Congress  of  your  bill  to  establish  the 
postal  telegraph  system. 

Respectfully, 

E.  M.  Doane,  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster-General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Norristown  Board  of  Trade, 

JSlorristoivn,  Pa.,  March  19,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : At  the  regular  monthly  meeting  of  this  board  of  trade,  held  last  night, 
a resolution  was  adopted  approving  of  the  bill  which  you  have  drafted  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  postal  telegraph  system  in  conuection  with  the  postal  service,  and 
our  member  in  Congress  requested  to  use  his  efforts  in  securing  the  passage  of  the 
bill. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

J.  Clinton  Sellers, 

Secretary. 

Hon.  John  WanaxMaker. 

Postmaster-General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Scranton  Board  of  Trade, 
Scranton.,  Pa.,  March  25,  1890. 

Dear  Sir:  At  the  last  regular  meeting  of  the  Scranton  Board  of  Trade,  held  March 
17,  a communication  from  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  on  the 
subject  of  a limited  postal  telegraph  was  read  and  unanimously  adopted  as  the  sense 
of  the  Scranton  Board  of  Trade. 

I take  pleasure  in  announcing  this  fact  to  you,  and  also  the  fact  that  I have  this 
day  forwarded  copies  of  the  resolution  referred  to  to  our  member  of  Congress  from 
this  district,  and  also  Senators  Quay  and  Cameron,  from  this  State. 

If  at  any  time  we  can  be  of  service  to  you  in  urging  the  passage  of  this  resolution, 
if  you  will  kindly  communicate  with  me  I will  see  that  the  matter  is  brought  to  the 
nittention  of  our  board. 

I am,  very  respectfully  yours. 


Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster- General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


J.  H.  Fisher,  Secretary. 


P T 2 


18 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Chamber  of  Commerce, 

St.  Paul,  Minn.,  April  7,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : The  following  report  of  the  mercantile  committee  was  adopted  by  this, 
chamber  to-day : 

“Pesolved,  That  this  chamber  re-affirms  its  previous  declarations  favoring  the  in- 
creased  usefulness  of  the  telegraph  connection  with  our  postal  system  and  heartily 
commend  the  same  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress.” 

Yours  truly, 


Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postn.a der-General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


A.  S.  Tallmadge,  secretary. 


Manufacturers’  Club  of  Philadelphia, 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  April  14,  1890. 

Dear  Sir:  I forward  the  following  extract  from  the  minutes  of  the  Club  under 
date  of  March  17  : 

“Hon.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  was  then  introduced  and 
addressed  the  club  at  length  upon  the  subject  of  postal  telegraphy.  His  remarks 
were  listened  to  Avith  great  interest  and  attention,  and  at  his  conclusion  Mr.  Jerome 
Carty  offered  the  following  resolution,  which  was  adopted  unanimously : 

“Whereas  the  subject  matter  of  the  address  before  the  club  this  evening  has 
been  in  practical  operation  by  the  leading  governments  of  Europe  for  many  years,  to 
the  great  advantage  of  the  people;  and 

“ Whereas  all  efforts  to  commend  its  adoption  by  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  should  be  promptly  seconded  : It  is  therefore 

Resolved,  That  the  hearty  thanks  of  the  Manufacturers’  Club,  of  Philadelphia,  are 
due  and  are  hereby  tendered  to  Hon.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard,  the  speaker  of  the  even- 
ing, for  bis  able  and  eloquent  exposition  of  the  subject;  and  the  club  hereby  ex- 
presses its  entire  and  full  approbation  of  the  same.” 

Yours  very  truly. 


Wm.  S.  Stockton,  Assistant  Secretary. 


The  Postmaster  General. 

Washington,  D.  C. 


The  Postmaster- General  : 

At  a meeting  of  tke  Helena  Chamber  of  Commerce,  on  Monday,  the  I4th  day  of 
April,  1890,  at  7.30  o’clock  p.  m..  President  Clopton  in  the  chair,  and  a quorum  pres- 
ent, on  motion  of  Mr.  F.  L.  Mitchell,  the  following  was  unanimously  adopted; 

Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  prepared  an  act  to  establish  a limited  postal 
telegraph  system  in  these  United  States;  and, 

Whereas  the  Helena  Chamber  of  Commerce  believes  such  a telegraph  system  has 
become  a necessity  and  would  be  a most  important  convenience  for  our  people  ; 

Resolved,  That  this  chamber  hereby  pronounces  its  most  hearty  approval  of  this 
movement,  and  requests  Senators  and  Members  of  Congress  from  Arkansas  to  urge 
the  early  passage  of  an  act  establishing  the  same ; 

And  he  it  further  resolved,  That  a copy  of  these  resolutions  be  forwarded  to  the  Post- 
master-General and  to  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress. 

J.  W.  Clopton,  President. 

J.  O.  Bagwell,  Secretary. 


The  Denver  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade, 

Denver,  Colo.,  April  17,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : The  following  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  Denver  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  Board  of  Trade : 

“Whereas  the  Postmaster- General  has  drafted  an  act  to  establish  a limited  postal 
telegraph  system  between  all  carrier-delivery  post-offices,  by  which  the  usefulness  of 
the  telegraph  will  be  greatly  extended  and  the  public  to  be  given  a uniform  service 
at  a much  lower  rate  than  that  charged  by  existing  companies;  and 

“Whereas  the  first  telegraph  line  was  constructed  between  Washington  and  Bal- 
timore with  an  appropriation  made  by  Congress,  and  placed  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  the  Postmaster- General,  w ho  adopted  regulations  to  bring  it  into  constant 
service  as  a means  of  transmitting  intelligence  accessible  to  all,  and  prescribed  the 
rate  of  postage;  but  this  great  instrumentality  for  good  was  afterwards  allow’ed  to 
pass  into  the  hands  of  corporations  which  have  used  it  as  a means  of  taxing  the  pub- 
lic for  the  most  important  system  of  conveying  intelligence;  and 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  19 

“ Whereas  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  of  importance  on  the  face  of  the 
^ operate  the  telegraph  as  a part  of  the  post-office  system ; and 

Whereas  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  representing  the  principal  commercial 
organizations  of  the  country,  aud  this  board  has  repeatedly  passed  resolutions  favor- 
mg  a postal  telegraph,  and  various  measures  have  been  recommended  by  the  different 
Postmasters-General  aud  committees  of  Congress  to  this  end,  but  have  been  defeated 
by  the  influence  of  the  great  corporations  that  now  control  the  telegraph  business  of 
are  foumi^^’  whose  boards  of  directors  leading  men  of  both  political  parties 

Resolved,  That  the  Denver  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade  favor  the 
increased  usefulness  of  the  telegraph  in  connection  with  our  postal  system,  and 
while  we  think  the  Government  should  own  and  operate  its  own  lines,  yet  we  wel- 
come the  proposition  of  the  present  Postmaster- General  as  a step  in  the  right  direc- 
tion and  heartily  commend  same  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress  ” 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

I.  B.  Porter,  President. 

Chas.  H.  Reynolds,  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster-G eneral,  Washington,  D.  C. 


THE  commercial  CLUB  OF  KANSAS  CITY. 


Kansas  City,  Mo.,  April  19,  1890. 

please  find  copies  of  resolutions  expressive  of  the  unanimous  approval 
ot  this  body  of  your  proposal  to  provide  a governmental  postal  telegraph  system. 

We  shall  be  under  obligations  if  you  will  kindly  have  forwarded  to  us  such  printed 
matter  upon  the  subject  as  may  be  published. 

Very  respectfully,  • 

TT  T -.TT  Ryerson  Ritchie,  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker,  ' ^c^iciuiy. 

Postmaster -General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


Resolutions  adopted  hy  the  Commercial  Clul)  of  Kansas  City,  April,  1890. 

Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  drafted  an  act  to  establish  a limited  postal 
telegraph  system  between  carrier  delivery  offices,  by  wich  the  usefulness  of  the  tele- 
graph will  be  greatly  extended,  and  an  uniform  service  provided  for  the  public  at  a 
reduced  rate ; and,  ^ 

Whereas  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  which  does  not  main- 
telegraph  system  as  a part  of  the- post-office  service  : and. 

National  Board  of  Trade,  representing  the  principal  commercial 
bodies  ot  the  country,  as  well  as  different  Postmasters-General  and  committees  of  Con- 

P^tmaster-Sal ; 

Resolved,  That  the  Commercial  Club  of  Kansas  City  is  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the 
moveruent  to  establish  a limited  postal  telegraph  service  as  a part  of  the  Post-Office 
Department  of  the  United  States,  and  that  our  Senators  and  Representatives  be  re- 
quested to  promote  the  passage  of  a bill  to  provide  therefor. 


[seal.-] 


Ryerson  Ritchie,  Secretary. 


Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Pittsburgh, 

Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  April  28,  1890. 
the  board  of  directors  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 

^rncHon^tlJ^f  f“°exed  paper  and  resolution  was  adopted,  with  in-' 

structions  that  the  same  be  sent  to  you.  ^ ’ 

Respectfully  yours, 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker,  S«perinlendent. 

Postmaster- General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


20 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Norwich  Board  of  Trade, 

Norwich,  Conn.,  May  3,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : I have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  at  a meeting  of  the  Norwich  Board 
of  Trade,  held  Wednesday,  April  30,  1890,  resolutions  were  adopted  indorsing  and 
recommending  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  our  Senators  and  Representatives  in 
Congress,  the  bill  to  establish  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service,  etc.,  as  a bureau  or 
part  of  the  Post-Office  Department  of  the  United  States. 

The  resolutions  are  substantially  the  same  as  those  adopted  by  the  New  York  Board 
of  Trade  and  Transportation  on  March  12,  1890 ; and  copies  will  be  sent  to  Senators 
Hawley  and  Platt,  and  the  Hon.  Chas.  A.  Russell,  M.  C. 

Very  respectfully  yours,  / 

David  R.  Jones,  Recording  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster- General,  Washington,  D.  C. : 


Winona  Board  of  Trade, 
Winona,  Minn.,  May  13,  1890. 

Dear  Sir  : I have  the  honor  to  say  that  this  Board  has  concurred  in  the  resolutions 
adopted  by  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  of  New  York  City  favoring  your 
proposition  for  the  establishment  of  a limited  postal  telegraph  system,  and  I have 
•been  instructed  to  notify  you  of  such  action  and  also  request  our  Senators  and  Repre- 
sentatives to  support  such  a measure  in  Congress. 

I have  the  honor  to  be  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  J.  Evans,  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster- General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


The  Pueblo  Board  of  Trade  Association, 

■*  Puehlo,  Colo.t  May  20,  1890. 

Resolutions  favoring  the  establishment  of  a limited  postal  telegraph,  passed  by  the 
Pueblo  Board  of  Trade  Association  May  6,  1890. 

Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  drafted  an  act  for  a limited  postal  telegraph 
system,  by  which  the  use  of  the  telegraph  will  be  brought  within  the  reach  of 
a greater  number  of  people  and  at  a lower  rate;  and 

Whereas  a postal  telegraph  system  is  favored  by  the  principal  commercial  bodies 
and  by  the  leading  statesmen  of  the  country,  but  its  adoption  prevented,  as  we  believe 
by  interested  corporation  influence  : Therefore, 

Resolved,  That  we  commend  to  our  Senators  and  Representative  in  Congress  the 
measure  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General,  known  as  A bill  to  establish  a lim- 
ited post  and  telegraph  service,”  etc.,  and  recommend  that  the  measure,  or  some  look- 
ing to  the  same  end,  be  urged  for  passage. 

A true  copy. 

Chas.  W.  Bowman,  Secretary. 

The  Postmaster-General. 


Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade, 

Philadelphia,  May  28,  1890. 

Sir  : At  a recent  meeting  of  the  Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade  the  following  memorial 
was  adopted  and  ordered  to  be  transmitted  to  Congress : 

To  the  honorable  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled  : 

“This  memorial  of  the  Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade  respectfully  represents  : 

“That  this  board  in  its  own  meetings  and  through  its  delegates  to  the  meetings  of 
the  National  Board  of  Trade,  has  affirmed  its  belief  in  the  wisdom  of  the  National 
Government  establishing  and  maintaining  under  well-considered  regulations  a postal 
telegraph  service  ; therefore 

“ Your  memorialist,  the  Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade,  respectfully  recommends 
to  your  honorable  bodies  favorable  action  on  the  recommendations  of  the  Postmaster- 
General  looking  to  the  early  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph  service. 

“ And  your  memorialist  will  ever  pray,  etc.” 

Yours  respectfully, 

W.  R.  Tucker,  Secretary. 

Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 

Postmaster- General,  Washington,  D.  C. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


21 


Richmond  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Richmond,  Va.,  June  9,  1890. 

Report  of  Committee  on  Commerce  in  relation  to  a bill  to  establish  a limited  post  and? 

telegraph  service,  etc. 

“ We  heartily  recommend  the  passage  of  said  bill  and  trust  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce will  comply  with  the  request  made  by  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Trans- 
;^ortation. 

“Respectfully  submitted, 

“ B.  F.  Johnson. 

“A.  R.  Yarbrough. 

“ H.  Wallerstein. 
‘^Walter  Bowie. 

The  measure  advocated  above  by  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation 
and  recommended  by  the  Committee  on  Commerce  of  the  Richmond  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce was  approved  by  the  Board  May  8, 1890. 

Teste : 

[seal.]  R.  a.  Dunlop, 

Secretary^ 

The  Postmaster-General. 


Resolutions,  memorials,  letters,  etc.,  in  behalf  of  postal  telegraphy,  submitted  to  the  House 
Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads. 

Capital  City  Assembly,  No.  6194,  Knights  of  Labor,  Charleston,  W.  Va.,  by  Will- 
iam A.  Gillaland,  master  workman,  and  Sim  Iron,  recording  secretary,  March  5. 

New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation,  by  Darwin  R.  James,  secretary,. 
March  12, 

Scranton  Board  of  Trade,  by  J.  H.  Fisher,  secretary,  March  25. 

Nationalist  Club  of  Concordia,  Kan8.,by  A.  A.  Carnahan,  secretary,  March  26. 

Citizens  of  Edwardsville,  Luzerne  County,  Pa.,  April  1. 

Citizens  of  McCracken  County,  in  the  First  Congressional  district  of  the  State  of 
Kentucky,  by  Josiah  Pierce  and  others,  April  2. 

Labor  Assembly,  No.  2574,  Knights  of  Labor,  of  Sugar  Notch,  Pa.,  by  P.  T.  Caffrey, 
master  workman,  and  James  Corrigan,  recording  secretary,  April  3. 

St.  Paul  Chamber  of  Commerce,  by  4*  S.  Tallmage,  secretary,  April  7.  ♦ 

Helena,  Ark.,  Chamber  of  Commerce,  by  J.  W.  Clopton,  president,  and  J.  O.  Bag- 
well,  secretary,  April  14. 

Denver  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Board  of  Trade,  by  I.  B.  Porter,  president,  and 
Charles  H.  Reynolds,  secretary,  April  21. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Pittsburgh,  by  G.  Fallansbee,  superintendent,  April  28.. 

Norwich,  Conn.,  Board  of  Trade,  by  David  R.  Jones,  recording  secretary,  May  8. 

Philadelphia  Board  of  Trade,  by  Frederick  Finley,  president,  and  W.  S.  Tucker,, 
secretary,  May  19. 

Pueblo,  Colo.,  Board  of  Trade  Association,  by  Charles  W.  Bowman,  secretary,. 
May  20. 

The  Davenport,  Iowa,  Business  Men’s  Association,, by  H.  T.  Denison,  secretary, , 
May  27. 

Board  of  Trade  of  the  city  of  Minneapolis,  by  William  L.  Hall,  secretary.  May  29.. 


22 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Appendix  C. 

NEWSPAPER  OPINIONS  BROUGHT  TO  THE  NOTICE  OF  THE  POSTMASTER- 
GENERAL  DURING  THE  CURRENT  DISCUSSION. 

FOR  THE  BILL  OR  NOT  UNFAVORABLE. 

[Pittsburg  Commercial-Gazette,  February  11.  J 

The  plan  which  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  advocates  as  a preliminary  step 
towards  the  establishment  of  a postal-telegraph  system  is  received  with  general  favor. 
He  does  not  propose  that  the  Government  shall  enter  into  the  purchase  of  existing 
telegraph  lines  or  the  construction  of  new  ones,  but  it  shall  contract  with  the  com- 
panies for  the  transmission  of  messages  at  certain  fixed  rates  between  post-offices. 
He  seems  to  think  that  1 cent  a word  would  be  a fair  rate  for  the  service.  The  mes- 
sage would  be  received  at  one  office  and  transmitted  to  another,  the  delivery  to  be 
made  after  the  same  manner  in  which  letters  are  now  handled. 

Where  time  is  an  important  element  this  arrangement  would  be  of  great  public 
utility.  The  business  would  undoubtedly  expand  with  great  rapidity  as  the  people 
became  familiar  with  the  advantages  of  the  system.  The  charges,  at  1 cent  a word, 
could  be  kept  within  reasonable  limits,  and  the  time  saved  would  be  equivalent  to 
that  occupied  in  making  up  the  mails  and  conveying  them  between  post-offices.  The 
delivery  would  be  both  safe  and  prompt,  and  in  all  matters  involving  business  trans- 
actions the  arrangement  could  not  fail  to  prove  profitable  as  well  as  satisfactory. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  postal  telegraphy  will  become  general  throughout  the  country 
in  the  near  future.  The  necessities  of  the  age  require  it  and  facilities  for  operating 
the  system  are  already  at  command.  All  that  is  needed  is  that  the  Government  shall 
make  the  telegraphic  instrument  an  adjunct  of  the  postal  service. 

[New  York  Herald,  February  12.] 

The  committee  will  use  Mr.  Wauamaker’s  bill  as  the  basis  of  the  measure  which 
they  will  prepare,  fpr  the  understanding  is  that  they  will  report  the  matter  favorably 
to  the  House.  Mr.  Candler,  of  Massachusetts,  who  is  one  of  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee, expressed  himself  as  greatly  pleased  with  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  proposition, 
which  he  thought  the  Government  ought  to  indorse.  Mr.  Hopkins,  of  Illinois,  who 
represents  Western  sentiment  upon  the  subject,  says  that  the  people  in  his  part  of 
the  country  want  a postal  telegraph,  and  will  look  with  disfavor  upon  any  of  their 
Representatives  in  Congress  who  oppose  it.  He  says  the  Western  people  are  not  favor- 
able to  postal  telegraphy  because  they  are  anti-monopolists — for  they  are  not  as  a 
rule — but  because  they  believe  in  any  measure  which  will  tend  to  improve  the  public 
service.  If  any  system  is  devised  whereby  they  can  send  their  telegrajffis  for  half  the 
money  that  is  charged  them  at  present,  they  favor  that  system  just  as  they  favor  the 
fast  railway  service  over  that  of  the  stage  coach  and  saddle-bags  of  half  a century 
ago. 

[Philadelphia  Bulletin,  February  12. 1 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  in  its  annual  report,  last  year,  showed 
that  its  business  is  increasing  at  an  enormous  rate.  During  the  year  ending  on  the 
30tb  of  June,  1889,  it  handled  54,000,000  messages,  which  was  an  increase  of  12,000,000 
over  the  number  in  the  year  preceding.  It  is  reasonably  certain  that  at  the  end 
of  its  current  fiscal  year  the  number  of  messages  which  it  will  have  transmitted  will 
exceed  60,000,000.  The  revenue  which  it  derived  from  this  business  was  in  round 
figures  $20,783,000,  and  its  expenses  $14,565,000,  leaving  a total  profit  of  $6,218,000. 
R^ot  only  is  the  business  increasing  every  year,  but  the  cost  of  telegraphj'  to  the  com- 
pany is  graduallj^  diminishing.  But  the  cost  to  the  public  for  the  service  performed 
has  not  diminished  in  the  same  proportion. 

The  number  of  persons  who  use  the  telegraph  is  less  than  5 per  cent,  of  the  pop- 
ulation. A very  large  proportion  of  the  people  never  use  it.  To  many  of  them  it  is 
too  expensive  a luxury.  To  many  who  could  afford  to  pay  for  telegrams  occasionally 
it  is  not  always  convenient.  The  telegraph  offices  are  often  remote  from  their  homes 
or  places  of  business  and  they  use  the  wires  only  in  matters  of  great  urgency.  We 
do  not  have  the  figures  at  hand,  but  we  will  venture  to  say  that  of  the  54,000,000 
messages  which  the  Western  Union  sent  out  last  year  more  than  40,000,000  related 
to  the  business  of  bankers,  stock -dealers,  boards  of  trade,  and  the  newspapers.  But 
taking  all  the  messages  which  this  corporation  handled,  it  will  be  found  that  great  as 
their  number  is,  it  is  really  an  average  of  but  one  message  to  each  inhabitant  of  the 
United  States.  This  shows  how  far  the  telegraph  service  still  is  from  being  used  by 
the  people  throughout  the  country  in  the  every-day  affairs  of  life. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


23 


We  make  allusion  to  these  facts  before  calling  attention  to  the  eiforts  which  Post- 
master-General Wanamaker  is  now  making  to  bring  the  telegraph  more  conveniently 
within  reach  of  the  people.  His  first  step  in  this  direction  is  to  propose  that  the  Gov- 
ornment  shall  make  a contract  with  telegraph  companies,  that  is  to  say,  with  the 
Western  Union,  for  setting  up  their  wires  in  the  principal  post-offices  so  that  any  one 
who  wishes  to  send  a telegram  may  do  so  by  placing  on  his  message  a postal-telegram 
-stamp  and  sending  it  in  the  mail  to  the  nearest  post-office.  In  this  way  a person 
would  be  able  to  send  a telegram  to  any  point  in  the  United  States  without  going 
further  than  the  letter-box  on  the  street  corner.  The  plan  does  not  involve  any  in- 
terference with  the  regular  business  of  the  companies.  It  is  simply  an  experiment  in 
extending  our  postal  facilities.  It  can  do  no  harm  to  the  Government,  nor,  so  far  as 
we  can  see,  to  the  companies.  The  Government  will  pay  them,  or  rather  the  West- 
ern Union,  under  contract  for  the  services  which  they  may  perform,  just  as  it  does 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  Company  or  the  Inman  Steam-ship  Company  for  carrying 
the  mail-bags. 

If  the  Western  Union  Company  is  wise  it  will  not  stand  in  the  way  of  this  improve- 
ment of  the  postal  service.  It  can  not  continue  to  go  on  much  longer  making  such 
charges  as  those  which  produce  the  revenues  that  we  have  described  above.  It  must 
lower  the  cost  of  the  service  or  find  itself  confronted  with  an  agitation  in  favor  of  a 
purchase  outright  by  the  Government.  That  it  can  lower  the  cost  of  its  service  is 
evident  from  the  figures  in  its  annual  report.  But  with  such  a contract  as  that  which 
the  Postmaster- General  proposes  the  volume  of  business  would  greatly  increase,  so 
that  the  company  would  be  likely  still  to  enjoy  handsome  profits,  eveji  after  a reduc- 
tion in  its  charges.  This,  of  course,  would  depend  upon  the  bargain  which  it  may 
make  with  the  Post-Office  Department.  Under  such  a plan  of  a postal  and  telegraph 
service  the  wires  would  be  used  by  tens  of  thousands  of  people  who  rarely  think  of 
using  them  now,  and  the  new  business  that  they  would  bring  would  fully  compen- 
sate the  company  for  a cut  in  its  rates.  At  the  same  time  it  would  make  the  post- 
office  more  of  a popular  convenience  than  ever. 

[Baltimore  Herald,  February  13.] 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  proposition  to  establish  a limited  postal  telegraph  service  in  this 
^country  is  certainly  worthy  of  candid  consideration.  The  argument  in  its  favor  is  a 
strong  one,  and  it  is  probably  none  too  soon  to  put  the  matter  to  a test  and  try  the 
feasibility  of  Government  telegraphs.  It  must  be  apparent  that  the  demand  for  tele- 
graphic service  is  enormously  on  the  increase,  and  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that  if  lines 
were  more  widely  extended  and  message  rates  materially  reduced  the  business  would 
multiply  at  a much  more  rapid  rate. 

The  argument  advanced  by  the  Postmaster-General  for  a gradual  utilization  of 
telegraphs  by  the  Government  is  briefly  as  follows : There  is  an  increasing  and  uni- 
versal demand  for  the  service  which  warrants  its  general  introduction  at  rates  that 
will  enable  even  poor  people  to  make  use  of  it.  The  Department  already  has  the 
necessary  offices  and  furniture.  It  has  clerks  whose  iuttdligeuce  would  very  soon 
make  them  competent  operators  upon  telegraphic  instruments.  In  cities  it  has  car- 
riers who  travel  the  same  routes  as  messenger  boys.  It  has  stamps  to  dispense  with 
keeping  accounts,  and  in  Mr.  Wauamaker’s  words,  needs  only  authority  and  a wire 
to  send  a new  thrill  of  life  throughout  the  republic. 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  scheme  does  not  look  to  the  purchase  of  telegraph  lines  or  the 
construction  of  new  ones.  He  wishes  only  to  lease  lines  already  in  existence,  and  to 
establish  the  system  in  cities  which  have  carriers  in  the  postal  service.  This  will  be 
sufficient  to  give  the  matter  a fair  trial,  and  it  can  afterward  be  abandoned  or  indefi- 
nitely extended,  as  popular  demaud  may  dictate. 

The  plan  proposed  is  not  different  from  that  already  in  existence  among  metropoli- 
tan newspapers.  It  does  not  even  anticipate  Government  ownership  of  telegraph 
wires  any  more  than  carrying  mails  involves  the  public  ownership  of  railroads.  The 
time  may  come  when  it  will  be  not  only  practicable  but  necessary  for  the  Government 
to  acquire  such  property,  but  that  time  is  not  yet,  and  the  trial  of  a postal  tele- 
graphic service  can  be  made  without  incurring  any  very  great  expense. 

Hence,  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  project  fora  limited  postal  telegraph  is  both  pos- 
sible and  practicable,  without  the  necessity  of  crushing  a corporation  or  nationaliz- 
ing an  industry.  For  that  reason  the  beginning  of  cheap  telegraphic  communication 
nan  be  made  vrithout  any  serious  innovation  upon  the  existing  order  of  things. 

< [Chicago  Hews,  February  13. j 

Whatever  may  have  been  President  Harrison’s  reason  for  placing  Mr.  Wanamaker 
at  the  head  of  the  Post  Office  Department,  there  is  no  doubt  that  for  the  business 
interests  of  the  country  the  choice  was  a good  one.  It  is  but  fair  to  suppose  that  the 
president  recognized  the  fitness  of  the  successful  Philadelphia  merchant  for  the  office 
of  Postmaster-General,  and  that  Senator  Quay’s  recommendation  and  the  large  sum 
of  money  which  Mr.  Wanamaker  contributed  to  the  campaign  fund  of  1S88  were  but 


24 


POSTAL  TELEGEAPH  FACILITIES. 


subsidiary  to  the  business  qualities  of  the  man  himself.  At  any  rate,  Mr.  Wana- 
maker's  management  of  post-office  affairs  thus  far  is  one  of  the  chief  successes  of 
President  Harrison’s  administration.  He  has  succeeded  in  no  small  degree  in  ingraft- 
ing his  business  methods  on  the  public  service.  The  contrast  between  the  mail 
system  at  present  and  as  it  was  a year  ago  is  very  striking.  That  the  improvement 
will  continue  throughout  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  term  of  office  is  probable. 

In  this  relation  the  Daily  News  desires  to  indorse  the  Postraaster-GeneraPs  plan  for 
establishing  a postal-telegraph  system  under  the  control  of  the  Government.  It  be- 
lieves that  the  people  are  best  served  when  they  serve  themselves.  A message  by  tele- 
graph can  be  sent  by  the  Government  quite  as  well  as  a message  by  mail.  The  present 
telegraph  monopoly  is  inimical  to  the  country’s  best  interests.  If  there  must  be  a 
monopoly  of  that  sort  the  people  should  be  tbeir  own  monopolists.  The  Postmaster- 
General’s  plan,  however,  is  only  a step  in  the  direction  of  a complete  system  of  Gov- 
ernment telegraphs.  But  it  is  a step  which,  if  taken,  is  likely  to  be  followed  by  others 
speedily. 

[Providence  Journal,  February  13.] 

Postmaster-General  Wauamaker’s  scheme  for  a postal  telegraph  seems  to  be  a rea- 
sonable and  practical  oue.  There  are  difficulties  m the  way  of  adopting  a universal 
system  like  that  of  Great  Britain  from  the  great  extent  of  the  territory  of  the  United 
States  and  the  sparseness  of  population  in  portions  of  it,  but  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  telegraph  should  not  be  made  the  adjunct  of  the  postal  service  in  places  where  it 
can  be  conveniently  established  and  gradually  be  extended  as  circumstances  warrant 

[St.  Louis  Chronicle,  February  15.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  to  be  commended  for  his  efforts  to  establish 
postal  telegraphy,  and  if  he  went  a step  further  and  made  an  effort  to  give  the  peo- 
ple postal  savings-banks,  he  would  be  still  more  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  the 
working  people  of  the  country.  This  is  the  class  most  to  be  benefited  by  the  adop- 
tion of  these  measures,  and  that  is  the  best  reason  why  that  there  is  very  little  prob- 
ability that  either  of  them  wdll  find  much  favor  in  the  eyes  of  a Congress  largely 
dominated  by  monopolistic  influence.  The  telegraph  has  now  been  half  a century 
in  practical  operation,  and  although  its  inventor  was  first  enabled  to  demonstrate  its 
utility  and  practicability  by  a Congressional  appropriation  of  public  money;  yet  the 
people  have  been  practically  debarred  from  its  use,  in  order  that  a few  individuals 
may  amass  millions  of  dollars  by  operating  it.  The  benefit  to  be  derived,  both  by 
Government  and  people,  from  postal  savings-banks,  has  been  for  many  years  demon- 
strated in  England,  Belgium,  France,  and  Germany  ; but  as  yet  the  working  people 
of  the  United  States  are  deprived  of  these  benefits,  because  these  Government  deposi- 
tories would  interfere  with  the  business  of  private  banking,  and  deprive  these  insti- 
tutions of  at  least  some  of  the  opportunities  for  swindling  the  public,  which  they 
now  to  such  an  unlimited  extent  enjoy.  Yes,  Mr.  Wanamaker  will  deserve  and  un- 
stintedly receive  the  gratitude  of  what  Mr.  Lincoln  so  happily  termed  “ the  common 
people,”  if  he  succeeds  in  inaugurating  either  of  these  great  reforms.  Even  an  hon- 
est effort  to  bring  them  about  will  merit  tlieir  thanks. 

[Xew  York  World,  February  15.  ] 

There  is  no  sense  in  the  cry  of  “ Centralization  ” as  raised  against  the  proposition 
of  the  Postmaster-General  that  the  Government  shall  establish  telegraph  lines  for 
sending  messages  between  the  principal  cities  of  the  country. 

There  is  no  more  ‘‘centralization  ” in  sending  messages  by  telegraph  than  there  is 
in  carrying  letters  and  packages  and  money  by  mail. 

The  telegraph  is  a natural  adjunct  of  the  postal  system,  and  is  so  used  in  .England 
and  in  other  countries.  The  chief  objection  to  so  employing  it  here  lies  in  the  close 
connection  of  our  civil  service  with  party  politics. 

It  is  bad  enough  to  have  sealed  letters  and  documents  pass  through  the  hands  of 
the  dependents  and  tools  of  party  bosses.  It  would  be  infinitely  worse  to  have  tele- 
graphic communications,  relating  either  to  business  or  x>olitic8,  committed  to  the  de- 
sj;)atch  and  knowledge  of  such  agents. 

Fancy  the  use  that  Quay,  Dudley,  and  Clarkson  might  make  of  a Government  tele- 
graph under  the  direction  of  John  Wanamaker  in  a Presidential  campaign! 

The  first  condition  of  a Government  telegraph  should  be  a reformed  civil  service 
conducted  as  business,  not  as  iiolitics. 

[Omaha  Bee,  February  16.] 

More  than  twenty  years  ago  the  legislature  of  Nebraska,  by  joint  resolution,  in- 
structed the  Representatives  of  this  State  in  Congress  to  exert  their  influence  and 
give  sujiport  to  the  proposition  to  establish  a postal  telegraxih  system.  The  senti- 
ment in  favor  of  postal  telegrajihy  has  been  steadily  growing,  and  the  country  is  to- 


POSTAL  TELEGEAPH  FACILITIES. 


25 


day  heartily  in  accord  with  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  efforts  to  enlarge  the 
usefulness  of  the  postal  system  by  placing  it  in  condition  to  transmit  dispatches  and 
money  orders  by  telegraph. 

The  benefits  that  the  people  would  derive  from  the  establishment  of  the  postal  tele- 
graph have  been  very  ably  set  forth  before  the  Congressional  committee  by  the  Post- 
master-General, who  has  evidently  given  this  subject  exhaustive  study.  The  cheap- 
ening of  telegraph  tolls,  the  improvement  of  message  delivery,  and  the  increase  of 
telegraphic  facilities  are  objects  which  vitally  concern  all  communities  and  all  classes 
of  our  citizens. 

The  problem  with  which  the  advocates  of  postal  telegraphy  have  vainly  grappled 
for  years  has  been  how  to  bring  about  the  proposed  reform.  At  the  outset  Mr.  Gard- 
ner Hubbard  sought  to  induce  Congress  to  create  a rival  of  the  Western  Union  mo- 
nopoly by  chartering  a postal  telegraph  company  that  would  enjoy  special  privileges, 
and  was  doubtless  designe*^!  to  be  a stock-jobbing  concern  on  a gigantic  scale,  with 
the  Government  as  its  backer.  Then  came  the  project,  fathered  by  Senator  Edmunds, 
to  construct,  at  the  Governmentt^  expense,  experimental  lines  between  the  leading 
commercial  centers,  and  have  them  operated  by  the  Government  in  competition  with 
existing  telegraph  companies.  This  scheme  was  impracticable  for  obvious  reasons. 
The  Government  telegraph  lines  would  have  been  constructed  at  extravagant  prices 
and  operated  at  a heavy  loss.  The  subtle  influence  of  the  Western  Union  would  have 
undermined  the  enterprise  and  made  it  too  costly  to  be  maintained  for  any  length  of 
time.  Had  the  experiment  proved  a financial  failure  after  reasonable  trial,  postal 
telegraphy  would  have  received  a set-back  for  many  years. 

The  proposition  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  to  lease  a limited  number  of 
wires  and  operate  them  between  the  carrier  delivery  cities  is  somewhat  more  feasible, 
but  falls  short  of  what  we  believe  to  be  essential.  It  is  at  best  only  a half-way  meas- 
ure. 

The  postal  telegraph  can  only  become  an  absolute  success  by  heroic  treatment. 
The  Government  should  be  the  absolute  owner  of  all  the  commercial  telegraph  lines  in 
the  country.  This  is  essential  as  a measure  of  self  preservation  in  times  of  war  and 
it  is  equally  essential  for  the  intercourse  of  the  people  in  times  of  peace.  So  long  as 
the  Government  does  not  own  all  the  telegraph  lines  the  present  system,  enor- 
mously inflated  by  overcapitalization  and  chiefly  operated  for  gain  and  speculation, 
will  flourish  and  prevent  the  people  from  getting  the  most  perfect  service  for  the 
least  money.  The  true  remedy  for  the  existing  defects  in  our  telegraph  system  is  the 
purchase  of  all  the  lines  by  the  Government  at  their  appraised  value.  This  appraise- 
ment may  be  extravagantly  high,  but  the  Government  could  better  afford  to  pay 
even  the  market  price  of  all  the  stocks  now  afloat  than  to  allow  the  continuance  of 
the  balloon  system  by  which  rivals  of  the  Western  Union  are  periodically  swallowed 
by  Mr.  Gould’s  anaconda,  and  millions  of  stock  are  issued  in  payment  for  additions 
to  the  Western  Union  plant  that  are  not  neeiled,  and  therefore  merely  a dead  weight. 

On  all  this  fictitious  stock  the  Western  Union  must  constantly  tax  its  patrons  in 
order  to  keep  up  dividends. 

This  is  the  real  obstacle  to  the  cheapening  of  rates  and  material  improvement  of 
the  telegraph  system.  The  telegraph  service  must  necessarily  continue  to  be  a mo- 
nopoly. Competition  has  always  been  and  always  will  be  followed  by  combination 
and  consolidation.  Is  it  safer  for  the  people  that  this  monopoly  shall  be  in  the  hands 
of  the  Government  or  in  the  hands  of  a private  corporation  ? 

The  Bee  has  for  eighteen  years  fearlessly  advocated  Government  ownership  of  the 
telegraph.  It  still  believes  that  sooner  or  later  the  Government  must  purchase  the 
existing  lines,  and  the  sooner  it  does  so  the  better. 

[Washington  Gazette,  February  16.] 

There  has  been  such  good  occasion  for  poking  fun  at  the  Postmaster-General  and 
exposing  his  political  methods,  that  it  is  not  always  easy  to  do  him  full  justice  when 
he  makes  an  honest  endeavor  to  improve  the  postal  facilities. 

We  credit  him  with  this  purpose  in  the  plan  proposed  to  afford  cheap  telegraphic 
facilities  to  the  people.  Whether  this  could  be  best  accomplished,  in  the  end,  by  the 
purchase  of  existing  lines,  or  the  construction  of  new  ones  by  the  Government,  is  an 
unsolved  problem.  That  the  Government  has  the  constitutional  right  to  do  either 
has  never  been  a debatable  question.  The  United  States  constructed  the  first  line  of 
telegraph,  and  surrendered  its  control  against  the  protests  of  Mr.  Polk’s  Postmaster- 
General,  upon  the  mistaken  theory  that  the  public  could  best  be  served  by  private 
enterprise.  Some  day  it  will  resume  what  it  should  never  have  relinquished. 

The  Postmaster-General  now  proposes  a limited  telegraph  service,  under  control  of 
the  postal  authorities,  which  promises  to  solve  the  telegraphic  problem,  and  that 
without  any  very  great  expense  to  the  United  States.  It  is  worthy  of  trial,  and  we 
believe  that  it  will  ultimately  eventuate  in  the  exclusive  control  of  telegraphic  com- 
munication, for  domestic  purposes  at  least,  by  the  postal  authorities,  and  at  cheaper 
rates  than  those  now  charged  the  public  for  such  messages.  The  Government  already 


26 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


has  in  its  employment  a sufficient  force  to  receive  and  dispatch  these  messages,  and 
we  believe  it  could  be  utilized  in  the  way  suggested  by  the  Postmaster-General  with- 
out interfering  in  the  least  with  their  ordinary  duties.  Congress  should  give  the 
plan  a fair  trial.  If  it  works  well  everybody  would  be  benefited.  If  it  fails,  no 
great  pecuniary  loss  will  follow,  and  the  vexed  question  of  Government  control  of  the 
telegraph  will  be  settled  forever. 

[Cleveland  Leader,  February  16.] 

Postmaster-General  WanamakePs  plans  fora  limited  postal-telegraph  system,  sub- 
mitted to  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post  Roads,  are  conservative  and 
judicious,  and  if  adopted  will  prove  of  great  service  to  the  public.  Mr.  Wanamaker 
does  not  propose  to  create  a new  telegraph  system  or  to  buy  out  any  system  now  in 
existence.  His  idea  is  simply  to  rent  the  use  of  wires  connecting  free  delivery  offices, 
just  as  newspapers  and  commercial  firms  do,  and  to  utilize  the  force  of  clerks  and  car- 
riers employed  in  these  offices  to  furnish  more  rapid  communication  between  patrons 
of  the  Department.  Under  the  proposed  system,  leased  wires  would  be  led  into 
«ach  of  the  446  free-delivery  offices,  operators  employed,  and  messages  delivered 
by  the  carriers  on  their  regular  rounds,  except  in  cases  where  special  delivery  stamps 
are  used  to  expedite  forwarding,  as  in  the  case  of  letters  now.  The  cost  of  delivery 
would  be  practically  nothing  ; the  expense  for  operators  small,  as  they  could  perform 
other  duties  when  not  employed  in  telegraphing,  aud  the  leasing  of  wires  would  in- 
volve a comparatively  small  outlay.  The  principal  advantage  to  the  public  would  be 
in  a reduced  scale  of  charges,  the  rate  proposed  being  not  more  than  10  cents  for 
twenty  words  within  1,500  miles,  and  not  to  exceed  25  cents  for  the  greatest  distance 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  also  proposed  to  utilize  the  system  for  the  telegraphic 
transmission  of  money  orders,  in  sums  not  exceeding  $100  each,  at  moderate  charges. 

The  system  thus  proposed  would,  of  course,  be  merely  experimental,  the  design 
being  at  once  to  serve  the  public,  and  to  ascertain  at  the  least  possible  expense  a^nd 
risk  the  possibilities  of  such  a service.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  it  would  be 
self-supporting  from  the  outset,  or  within  a very  few  months  from  the  time  of  its 
adoption.  In  the  end,  if  successful,  it  would  probably  be  deemed  best  that  the  Gov- 
ernment should  own  its  own  wires,  and  that  the  system  should  gradually  be  extended 
to  all  considerable  towns  and  villages  in  the  country.  Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  con- 
template that  a postal-telegraph  system  will  ever  monopolize  the  telegraph  business 
of  the  country.  The  mass  of  commercial  and  press  telegraph  business  of  the  nation 
will  probably  always  be  done  as  now^  by  telegrai)h  corporations.  But  there  is  a large 
nud  constantly  growing  amount  of  business  of  this  kind  that  may  properly,  and  to 
better  advantage,  be  done  through  the  Post-office  Department.  It  is  a long  step  in 
the  direction  of  cheaper  telegraph  facilities  for  the  masses  of  the  people,  who  can 
not  have  the  advantages  of  the  special  rates  accorded  to  large  customers  of  the  tele- 
graph companies.  This  kind  of  business  wmuld  very  soon  be  doubled,  and  perhaps 
quadrupled,  by  the  very  reasonable  schedule  of  rates  proposed  by  the  Postmaster- 
General,  and  this  would  mean  not  only  the  placing  of  cheap  telegraphing  within  the 
reach  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  but  a profitable  career,  also,  for  postal  telegraph- 
ing. The  proposed  plan  is  in  line  with  the  offering  to  the  public  of  cheap  transportation 
for  light  articles  of  merchandise,  and  the  means  of  transmitting  small  sums  of  money 
by  i^ostal  orders  and  postal  notes,  which  have  been  of  enormous  value  to  the  public, 
but  have  not  interfered  with  the  rights  of  the  express  companies  or  the  banks. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Postmaster-General  on  this  subject  are  eminently  wise 
throughout,  just  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from  a practical  and  able  business 
man.  They  are  in  line  with  popular  thought  and  desire,  and  should  receive  the 
prompt  and  earnest  attention  of  Congrsss,  as  we  have  no  doubt  they  will. 

. [Boston  Traveller,  February  17.  j 

The  Government  postal  telegraph  system  advocated  by  Postmaster-General  Wana- 
inaker  is  of  much  more  modest  pretensions  than  the  systems  in  vogue  in  England, 
Fraiice,  and  Germany.  What  he  asks  Congress  to  do  is  to  [authorize  him  to  contract 
with  responsible  persons  who  will  undertake  to  connect  by  wires  places  at  which  the 
free-deliVery  service  now  exists,  these  places  to  be  known  as  postal  telegraph  sta- 
tions. It  is  not  asked,  as  has  been  assumed  in  some  quarters,  that  Congress  shall 
build  a telegraph  system  or  even  materially  increase  the  list  of  i>ostal  employes,  but 
rather  that  it  shall  enable  the  Department  to  lease  for  a term  of  two  years  lines  already 
built  or  to  be  built  by  a corporation  formed  for  that  purpose.  His  purpose  is  to  secure 
for  the  transmission  of  postal  messages  such  facilities  between  cities  enjoying  free- 
delivery  service  as  banks,  brokers  and  newsi)apers  now  possess.  By  dropping  into  a 
mail-box,  a letter  or  card  bearing  the  requisite  amouut  in  stamps,  any  one,  under  the 
proposed  arrangement,  could  without  further  trouble  have  a message  sent  by  tele- 
graph to  any  point  to  which  the  leased  line  extended,  and  have  it  delivered  there  by 
the  letter-carrier  in  the  usual  manner.  By  adding  the  ten-cent  special  delivery  stamp 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


27 


to  the  postage  he  could  secure  immediate  delivery.  It  is  not  designed  to  restrict  the 
right  of  telegraph  companies  to  do  the  business  they  now  do,  or  to  compete  with 
them,  but  to  create  new  business,  and  at  the  same  time  supply  a deficiency  in  the 
means  of  communication  at  present  at  the  command  of  the  masses  of  the  people. 
Postal  telegrams  would  be  transmitted  in  the  order  of  filing,  except  in  certain  speci- 
fied cases  As  soon  as  practicable  the  sending  of  orders  for  money  by  telegraph  to  the 
amount  of  $100  and  under  would  be  added  to  the  existing  postal  money-order  busi- 
ness. The  charge  for  a postal  telegram  within  any  State  is  not  to  exceed  10  cents 
for  messages  of  twenty  words,  nor  25  cents  for  distances  under  1500  miles,  nor  50 
-cents  for  apy  greater  distance.  For  postal  telegram  money  orders  the  fee  would  not 
exceed  twice  the  rates  now  charged  for  money  orders  sent  by  mail,  in  addition  to  the 
charge  for  the  postal  telegram.  There  has  been  a great  deal  of  confusion  in  the  pop- 
ular mind  concerning  Mr.  Wananiaker’s  plan,  but  the  outline  here  given  of  it,  shows 
that  it  is  exceedingly  simple,  that  it  is  inexpensive,  and  if  the  postal  telegraph  ex- 
periment is  ever  to  be  tried,  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  plan  is  the  best  yet  proposed  for  mak- 
ing the  experiment. 

[Denver  Eepublican,  ^February  17.] 

The  scheme  for  a postal  telegraph,  which  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  outlined 
the  other  day  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  is  the 
same  that  he  tried  to  carry  out  in  his  negotiations  with  the  Western  Union. 

It  consists  in  utilizing  the  present  post  office  and  carrier  system  for  the  delivery  of 
telegraph  messages.  Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  propose  to  purchase  or  confiscate  any 
existing  telegraph  lines.  He  would  merely  make  contracts  for  wires  to  be  used  in 
the  postal  telegraph  business.  This  is  one  of  the  weak  parts  of  his  scheme.  He  could 
not  compel  any  company  to  lease  a wire  to  the  Government  below  what  the  company 
might  think  profitable.  The  charge  for  the  use  of  the  wire  might  be  so  great  as  to 
make  the  cost  of  the  services  greater  than  the  receipts.  It  is  pos.sible,  however,  that 
the  prospect  of  making  contracts  with  the  Government  would  induce  new  companies 
to  erect  new  telegraph  lines  and  thus  compete  with  the  existing  companies. 

Undoubtedly  the  present  offices  and  employes  now  engaged  in  the  postal  business 
of  the  country  would  be  sufficient  to  handle  the  greater  part  of  the  postal  telegraph 
business.  The  expense  from  an  increase  in  the  number  of  employes  would  not  amount 
to  a great  deal.  The  chief  expense  would  be  that  of  the  use  of  telegraph  wires.  The 
cost  would  be  entirely  within  the  reach  of  the  Government  without  adding  anything 
to  the  burden  of  taxation. 

Thfe  benefit  to  the  general  public  would  be  very  great,  for  it  would  enable  many 
peoi)le  to  use  the  telegraph  who  are  now  prohibited  Ironi  doing  so  because  of  the 
heavy  telegraph  tolls.  The  Western  Union  could  well  afford  to  reduce  its  tolls,  and 
so  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  postal-telegraph  business  could  be  conducted  at  the  rates 
suggested  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  provided  that  the  cost  of  leasing  wires  would  not  be 
too  great. 

The  tolls  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  would  be  applicable  to  messages  of  twenty 
words  or  less  includiug  address  and  signature.  A message  of  this  sort,  however, 
would  not  differ  much  from  a message  of  ten  words,  excluding  address  and  signature. 
For  the  proposed  message  the  charge  in  any  State  would  not  be  more  than  10  cents  nor 
over  25  cents  for  distances  under  1,.500  miles.  For  greater  distances  than  1,500  miles, 
the  charge  would  not  exceed  50  cents. 

This  would  be  a very  great  reduction  compared  with  the  charges  for  daj’^  messages 
over  the  Western  Union  lines.  If  messages  would  be  allowed  to  be  sent  at  night  at 
half  rates,  the  gain  to  the  jjublic  in  the  cost  of  the  service  would  be  very  important. 
Undoubtedly  it  would  be  followed  by  a large  increase  in  telegraph  business. 

[Hartford  Post,  February  19.] 

The  plan  proposed  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  for  the  establishment,  upon 
a limited  scale,  of  a postal-telegraph  system,  will  probably  have  the  approval  of 
every  man  in  the  country"  who  is  not  directly  interested  in  private  telegraph  com- 
panies. The  proposition  is  to  confine  the  tra  ismission  of  messages  for  the  present  to 
four  or  five  hundred  free-delivery  offices  ; to  adjust  the  rate  to  the  distance,  as  the 
exi.^tiug  custom  is,  and  to  permit  the  wiring  of  money  orders  not  in  excess  of  $100. 
There  wilkbe  no  increase  of  the  number  of  clerks,  and,  if  lines  may  be  leased,  no  at- 
tempt to  construct  new  lines.  In  his  address  before  the  Post-Office  Committee  of 
the  House,  Mr.  Wanamaker  showed  that  the  Western  Union  Company  at  this  moment 
has  18,740  of  its  offices  in  jiost-office  buildings.  He  showed  that  the  cost  of  delivery 
would  not  be  increased,  because  the  letter-carriers  can  also  carry  telegrams.  He  in- 
dicated that  whilst  5 per  cent,  of  the  messages  transmitted  in  this  country  were  of  a 
social  character,  more  than  .50  per  cent,  of  those  sent  in  England  under  the  postal- 
telegraph  system  are  of  that  nature.  In  fact,  only  2 per  cent,  of  our  population  use 
the  telegraph  at  all.  He  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  profit  from  the  proposed 


28 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


system  would  help  to  reduce  or  remove  tbe  deficit  in  the  revenues  of  the  Post-Office 
Department.  This  is  a practicable,  workable  scheme,  involving-  no  risks  worthy  of 
consideration,  and  no  large  outlay  of  money.  It  promises  to  give  to  the  people  ac- 
commodation to  which  they  are  clearly  enl.irled,  for  the  r.  ason  that  carriage  of  mes- 
sage by  mail  and  carriage  by  wire  are  services  of  essentially  the  same  kind.  One  of 
the  best  features  of  the  scheme  is  the  proposed  transmission  of  money  by  wire. — 
Manufacturer.  ] 

[Joliet  111.,  News,  February  20. J 

It  is  a gratifying  thing  to  see  one  of  the  great  metropolitan  daily  papers  changing 
its  attitude  on  the  telegraph  question.  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  proposition 
to  inaugurate  a Government  system  of  telegraph  between  all  of  the  400  free  postal 
delivery  cities  of  the  country  furnishes  the  Chicago  News  a text,  as  follows  : 

“In  this  relation  the  Daily  News  desires  to  indorse  the  Po.stmaster-General’s  plan 
for  establishing  a postal-telegraph  “system  under  the  control  of  the  Government.  It 
believes  that  the  people  are  best  served  when  they  serve  themselves.  A message  by 
telegraph  can  be  sent  by  the  Government  quite  as  well  as  a message  by  mail.  The 
present  telegraph  monopoly  is  inimical  to  the  country’s  best  interests,  jf  there  must 
he  a monopoly  of  that  sort,  the  people  should  be  their  own  monopolists.  The  Post- 
master-General’s plan,  however,  is  only  a step  in  the  direction  of  a complete  system 
of  Government  telegraphs.  But  it  is  a step  which,  if  taken,  is  likely  to  be  followed 
by  others  speedily.” 

[San  Francisco  Bulletin,  February  20.] 

It  is  evident  that  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  expects  to  distinguish  his  admin- 
istration by  breaking  the  ground  for  the  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph  system 
under  Government  control.  That  plan  was  brought  before  the  country  more  than 
ten  years  ago.  There  was  no  expectation  that  it  would  be  immediately  adopted. 
The  country  has  been  slowly  growing  to  it.  The  telegraph  companies  have  made  a 
strong  opposition  to  plans  heretofore  suggested.  They  have  covered  the  country  with 
a net-work  of  telegraph  lines  and  have  invested  an  immense  amount  of  capital  in  the 
business.  They  maintain  that  if  the  Government  is  to  go  into  the  business  their  rev- 
enues will  be  reduced^  and  their  investments  made  uuremunerative.  The  same  ob- 
jections in  kind  were  urged  against  the  establishment  of  the  postal  telegraph  system 
in  England.  But  such  an  adjustment  was  finally  made  of  public  and  private  rights 
that  the  latter  were  substantially  protected.  Before  a postal  telegraph  system  can 
come  into  general  use  in  this  country,  the  public  most  demand  it  in  unmistakable 
terms.  When  such  a demand  has  once  been  made  no  ojiposition  will  prevail 
against  it. 

Up  to  this  time  the  postal  system  of  the  United  States  has  been  shaped  after  that 
in  Great  Britain.  The  more  important  im[»rovements  made  there  were  not  adopted 
in  this  country  until  for  many  years  there  had  been  a comp.ete  demonstration  of  suc- 
cess in  England.  Now,  as  a matter  of  fact,  the  postal  telegraph  system  has  worked 
for  so  many  years  admirably  in  Great  Britain.  The  reasoning  is  that  it  would  work 
well  here.  The  conditions  are  not  alike;  but  it  is  maintained  that  they  are  not  Ga 
diverse  as  to  furnish  any  ground  for  a failure.  The  Postmaster-General  has  not  only 
laid  his  plan  before  Congress,  but  he  is  following  it  up  with  vigor  before  the  appro- 
priate committee.  It  has  in  this  way  been  given  a prominence  that  it  never  had  be- 
fore. Congress  will  probably  deal  with  the  question  during  the  present  session. 

[Troy  Telegram,  February  20.] 

Postmaster  General  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  idea  is  taking  a firm  hold  upon 
the  Representatives  and  Senators  who  are  not  opposed  to  Mr.  Wanamaker  simply  be- 
cause he  happens  to  be  a Republican.  The  idea  is  certainly  in  the  direction  of  pub- 
lic good.  The  telegraph  long  ago  ceased  to  be  a luxury.  It  is  one  of  the  necessities 
of  modern  life,  and  if  the  Government  can  operate  lines  as  the  Government  operates 
the  mail  service  the  reform  should  not  be  long  in  coming.  Give  the  Postmaster- 
General  a chance. 

[Boston  Globe,  February  21.] 

It  is  believed  that  the  present  session  of  the  British  Parliament  will  adopt  “ impe- 
rial penny  postage that  is,  a uniform  rate  of  one  penny  for  letters  between  any 
parts  of  the  Queen’s  dominions,  however  widely  separated.  It  is  said  that  the 
scheme  would  only  cost  £60,000  more  than  the  present  system,  and  its  enthusiastic 
advocates  think  that  it  would  in  a few  years  make  a profit.  Besides,  they  say  it 
wouU\bethe  first  step  towards  the  imperial  federation  of  the  colonies.  Our  own 
country,  to  keep  up  with  the  procession,  will  have  to  adopt  Government  telegraphy 
and  a uniform  oue-cent  rate. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


29 


[Bellefuiitaiiie  (O.)  Eepublican,  Feb.  21.] 

One  of  the  Commercial  Gazette’s  arguments  against  the  adoption  of  postal  teleg- 
raphy is  this: 

“ Of  the  60,000,000  people  in  the  United  States,  only  about  1,000,000  nse  the  tele- 
graph, and  it  would  hardly  be  a popular  measure  to  tax  sixty  people  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  cost  of  an  accommodation  of  one.” 

It  is  upon  such  flimsy  arguments  that  the  objection  to  postal  telegraphy  rests. 

A moment’s  thought  will  satisfy  one  that  if  telegraph  rates  were  put  down  to  a low' 
figure,  as  postage  stamps  have  bee,n,  that  the  number  using  the  telegraph  would 
be  increased  many  fold,  as  the  number  of  li  tters  has  been  increased  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  postage  rates. 

There  is  no  reason  why  the  Government,  which  sends  messages  by  rail  for  the  peo- 
ple, should  not  also  send  them  by  wfre.  The  postal  Department  has  adopted  and 
utilized  all  improved  methods  for  furthering  communication  between  the  people  ex- 
cept the  telegraph  ; why  should  this  be  excepted  ? The  coach  and  postman  have 
be.eu  supplanted  by  the  steam-boat  and  railroad  because  the  latter  are  swifter  in 
their  course  ; why  should  lightning  not  supplant  steam  when  desirable  and  possible  ? 
Messages  can  be  sent  cheaper  by  wire  than  by  rail.  The  business  of  the  country 
would  be  greatly  expedited;  the  peo()le  of  the  country  would  be  greatly  accommo- 
dated ; everybody  would  be  benefited.  All  the  cry  about  the  great  cost  is  mis- 
leading. The  immense  profits  made  by  the  telegraph  companies  show  that  the  peo- 
ple are  charged  much  more  than  the  service  costs,  and  if  this  is  so  at  present  rates, 
with  rates  reduced  to  a point  such  as  would  make  them  popular,  the  business  woulct 
increase  and  become  profitable  at  the  low  rates,  just  as  low  rates  of  postage  have 
largely  increased  tlie  post-office  business  and  met  its  increased  expenses. 

Ma.  Wanamaker  has  faith  in  postal  telegraphy,  bnt  he  is  willing  to  make  atrial  on  • 
u,  limited  scale.  Why  should  this  not  be  done?  If  he  is  correct,  this  would  be  proven 
and  the  system  would  be  made  general.  If  he  is  wrong,  it  would  be  proven,  and  that 
would  be  the  end  of  it.  By  opposing  Mr.  Wanamaker,  the  telegraph  monopolies  show 
that  they  have  no  faith  in  their  own  objections,  and  are  siiujily  fighting  to  maintain 
an  oppressive  monoiioly  for  the  immense  profits  there  are  in  it  for  them, 

f Shelby  (Ohio)  Times,  February  22.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  plans  for  a limited  postal  telegraph  system,  sub- 
mitted to  the  House  Committee  of  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  are  conservative  and 
judicious,  and  if  adopted  will  prove  of  great  service  to  the  public.  Mr.  Wanamaker 
does  not  propose  to  create  a new  telegraph  system  or  to  buy  out  any  system  now  in 
existence.  His  idea  is  simply  to  rent  the  use  of  wires  connecting  free  delivery  offices, 
just  as  newspapers  and  commercial  firms  do,  and  to  utilize  the  force  of  clerks  and 
carriers  employed  in  these  offices  to  furnish  more  rapid  communication  between  pa- 
trons of  the  Department. 

the  principal  advantage  to  the  public  would  be  in  a reduced  scale  of  charges,  the 
rate  proposed  being  not  more  than  ten  cents  for  twenty'-  words  within  1,500  miles,  and 
not  to  exceed  twenty  five  cents  for  the  greatest  distance  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
also  proposed  to  utilize  the  system  for  the  tidegraphic  transmission  of  money  orders, 
in  sums  not  exceeding  |100  each,  at  moderate  charges. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  contemplate  that  a postal  telegraph  system  will  ever 
monopolize  the  telegraph  business  of  the  country'.  The  mass  of  commercial  and  press 
telegraph  business  of  the  nation  will  probably  always  be  done  as  now,  by  telegraph 
corporations.  But  there  is  a large  and  constantly  growing  amount  of  business  of 
this  kind  that  may  properly,  and  to  better  advantage,  be  done  through  the  Post-Office 
Department.  It  is  a long  step  in  the  direction  of  cheaper  telegraph  facilities  for  the 
masses  of  the  people,  who  can  not  have  the  advantages  of  the  special  rates  accorded 
to  large  customers  of  the  telegraph  companies.  This  kind  of  business  would  very- 
soon  be  doubled,  and  perhaps  quadrupled,  by  the  very  reasonable  schedule  of  rates 
proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General,  and  this  would  mean  not  only  the  placing  of 
cheap  telegraphing  within  the  reach  of  the  masses  of  the  people,  but  a profitable 
career,  also,  for  postal  telegraphing.  The  proposed  plan  is  in  line  with  the  offering 
to  the  public  of  cheap  transportation  for  light  articles  of  merchandise,  and  the  means 
of  transmitting  small  sums  of  money  by  postal  orders  and  postal  notes,  which  have 
been  of  enormous  value  to  the  public  but  have  not  interfered  with  the  rights  of  the 
express  companies  or  the  banks. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Postmaster-General  of  this  subject  are  eminently  wise 
throughout,  just  such  as  might  have  been  expected  from  a pratical  and  able  business 
man.  They  are  in  line  with  popular  thought  and  desire,  and  should  receive  the 
prompt  and  earnest  attention  of  Congress,  as  we  have  no  doubt  they  will. 

[Irish  World,  February  22.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  shown  the  public  that  he  has  been  studying  to 
some  profit  the  best  interests  of  the  great  Department  of  the  Government  intrusted 


30 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


to  his  direction.  He  has  submitted  to  Congress  for  adoption  a proposition  to  establish 
a telegraph  service  in  connection  with  the  Post-OfiSce,  which  is  certainly  worthy  of 
a fair  trial,  as  it  promises  at  small  cost  to  place  within  the  reach  of  the  public  a 
system  of  telegraphic  communication  at  a fraction  of  the  rates  now  paid  to  the  tele- 
graph companies  and  messenger  deliveries.  Mr.  Wanamaker  mentions  the  pertinent 
fact  that  during  the  past  twenty  years  the  Government  has  paid  to  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  about  $100,000,000,  and  he  proposes  to  lessen  that  expense  and  at 
the  same  time  give  the  public  a cheaper  service  in  the  transmission  of  such  messages 
as  the  Post-Office  Department  may  conveniently  handle.  There  are  nearly  60,000 
post-offices  in  the  country,  all  situated  with  special  reference  to  the  greatest  conven- 
ience of  the  people.  There  are  less  than  half  that  number  of  telegraph  stations  oper- 
ated solely  as  money-making  enterprises  by  the  Western  Union  and  other  corporations. 
The  Postmaster-General  does  not  propose  to  buy  out  any  of  those  corporations  or 
construct  an  independent  system,  but  to  lease  on  the  best  terms  such  lines  as  could  be 
operated  in  certain  post-offices  to  the  public  advantage;  A large  part  of  the  telegraph 
and  special  messenger  service  contemplated  by  the  Postmaster-General  could  be  trans- 
acted with  the  present  force  of  employes,  so  that  the  extra  cost  would  be  compara- 
tively small,  and  the  rates  to  the  people  for  their  current  messages  could  be  grea  ly 
reduced. 

Opinions  vary  as  to  the  expediency  of  the  Government  assuming  control  of  the  en- 
tire telegraph  system  of  the  country  as  has  been  done  by  England  and  Germany,  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  ground  for  objection  to  the  practical  and  business- 
like proposition  of  the  Postmaster-General,  and  there  is  every  likelihood  that  the  bill 
recommended  by  him  or  another  embodying  its  main  provisions  will  be  speedily  en- 
acted by  Congress. 

^ [Bloomington  (111.)  Leader,  March  1.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green  appeared  before  a special  committee  at  Washington  yesterday,, 
and  presented  a long  argument  in  opposition  to  the  establishment  of  a postal  system 
of  telegraph.  Dr.  Green  is  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
and  his  interest  in  the  matter  is,  of  course,  purely  philanthropic.  He  is  afraid  that 
the  Government  will  lose  money  in  the  venture,  and  that  fifty-seven  millions  of  peo- 
ple who  do  not  use  the  telegraph  will  be  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  one  million  who  do 
employ  it.  He  also  asserts  that  the  stock  brokers  and  speculators  are  the  chief  pa- 
trons of  the  wires,  and  that  a large  revenue  is  derived  from  pool  rooms  and  sporting 
places.  He  fears  that  it  is  merely  a scheme  to  break  down  the  poor,  struggling  West- 
ern Union  corporation.  All  of  this  is  very  absurd  to  persons  at  all  familiar  with  the 
facts.  It  is  well  known  that  from  a comparatively  small  beginning  the  Western 
Union  has  grown  to  be  a giant  monopoly,  and  has  watered  its  stock  almost  beyond 
belief.  It  has  driven  every  competitor  out  of  the  field  by  a process  of  absorption  best 
known  to  its  own  managers,  until  to  day,  as  Mr.  Green  himself  says,  this  comi3any 
controls  ten-elevenths  of  all  the  lines  in  the  United  States.  If  the  business  had  been 
performed  upon  narrow  margins,  it  is  very  strange  that  the  Western  Union  has  been 
able  to  exert  the  influence  and  accumulate  the  wealth  it  has.  Everybody  knows 
that  Mr.  Green’s  statements  are  valueless.  While  the  classes  he  cites  are  patrons  of 
the  wires,  so  also  are  the  masses  of  the  people.  The  commercial  interests  of  the 
country  come  first  in  order,  of  course,  but  nearly  every  citizen  employs  the  wires  to 
some  extent.  It  is  as  natural  and  proper  for  the  Government  to  control  the  telegraph 
as  it  is  for  it  to  provide  for  the  distribution  of  mail  matter.  The  assumption  of  such 
a right  by  the  Government  is  bound  to  come,  though  it  may  be  delayed  for  a time  by 
peculiar  methods  on  the  part  of  the  corporation  w hich  Mr.  Green  represents.  When 
a complete  system  of  Government  telegraph  is  in  operation  the  people  will  be  able  to 
communicate  with  each  other  by  wire  at  rates  as  greatly  reduced  as  those  of  the  post- 
office  w'ere  when  the  carrying  of  the  mails  passed  out  of  private  hands.  Existing  lines 
should  be  purchased  at  a fair  valuation,  but  watered  stock,  which  is  fictitious,  should 
not  be  considered  in  the  transaction.  The  Government  telegraph  is  bound  to  come,. 
Dr.  Green  to  the  contrary  uotwfithstanding. 

[The  Telegrapher,  March  1.] 

While  w’e  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  favoring  the  adoption  of  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  limited  postal  telegraphy  scheme,  for  we  regard  any  plan  other  than  a com- 
plete monopoly  by  the  Government  of  the  entire  telegraph  business  of  the  country  as 
impracticable  and  unworthy  of  consideration,  there  is  one  feature  of  the  proposed 
system  which  impresses  us  as  being  a very  good  one,  although  its  adoption  would  no 
doubt  raise  a great  commotion  among  the  fraternity.  We  refer  to  the  civil  service 
examination  clause,  which  our  worthy  contemporary,  the  Age,  says  would  be  detri- 
mental to  the  service  if  adopted.  The  Age  seems  to  be  laboring  under  a misappre- 
hension in  the  matter.  No  applicant  w ho  could  show  a reasonable  proficiency  in 
sending  and  receiving  w'ould  be  rejected  because  of  his  inability  to  properly  answer 
an  unimportant  question  in  geography  or  arithmetic.  But  the  applicant  who  in 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


31 


addition  to  being  a skillful  telegrapher  could  show  a thorough  knowledge  of  the 
common  English  branches  would  in  all  fairness  be  entitled  to  a higher  grading  in  the 
examination  and  consequently  a higher  salary  than  the  one  who  knows  nothing 
beyond  the  mere  making  of  dots  and  dashes.  This  would  insure  to  the  new  system 
a force  of  well  educated  and  thoroughly  competent  men  who  could  assume  auy  duties 
required  of  them.  Granted  that  some  first-class  operators — if  by  “first-class”  wty 
mean  fine  senders  and  receivers,  but  who  outside  of  that  are  ignorant  of  what  in  these 
enlightened  days  any  fourteen-year-old  boy  should  know — would  be  unable  to  secure 
positions  under  the  new  system.  Their  places  would  be  tilled  by  men  far  preferable 
in  every  way,  and  the  service  instead  of  being  injured  thereby  would  be  the  gainer. 

Such  a plan  would  also  be  a benefit  to  the  fraternity  at  large,  from  the  fact  that  it 
would  tend  to  elevate  the  standard  of  the  profession  and  increase  salaries.  Any  per- 
son of  average  intelligence  can  learn  to  telegraph,  but  the  civil  service  idea  applied 
to  telegraphy  would  impose  other  conditions  upon  would-be  operators  which  would 
have  the  effect  of  bringing  into  the  ranks  educated  men  and  women  who  would  ex- 
pect an  adequate  remuneration  for  the  use  of  their  talents.  Instead  of  being  obliged, 
as  the  better  grade  of  telegraphers  are  to-day,  to  accept  a salary  based  on  the  needs 
of  men,  who,  although  fine  operators,  have  no  aspirations  above  being  one  of  “de 
gang,”  the  operator  of  the  future,  backed  up  by  the  civil  service  examination,  will 
demand  and  receive  a salary  commensurate  with  his  abilities  and  worth.  Will  any 
reasonable  person  contend  such  a desirable  state  of  affairs  would  be  detrimental  to.- 
the  service?  We  fail  to  see  how  it  could  be  so. 

If  Government  telegraphy  can  bring  about  this  change,  then  all  hail  to  Government 
telegraphy.  The  service  would  be  benefited  ; an  improved  service  would  benefit  not 
only  the  public  but  the  com})anies  as  well;  and  last,  but  not  least,  the  business  of 
telegraphy  would  be  elevated  from  a mere  “hustle  for  bread  and  butter,”  as  our  Bos- 
ton correspondent  puts  it,  to  the  dignity  of  a profession.  This  “were  a consumma- 
tion most  devoutly  to  be  wished,”  and  if  postal  telegraphy  in  any  form  is  attempted, 
we  hope  the  civil  service  examination  will  be  a prominent  feature  of  the  uew  system. 

[Hutchinson  (Kans.)  News,  March  2.] 

It  is  very  fortunate  that  the  Government  has  a few  reliable  friends  like  Dr.  Norvin 
Green  to  fall  back  on  when  it  wants  a little  wholesome  disinterested  advice.  Dr. 
Green’s  patriotism  is  only  equaled  by  his  philanthropy.  He  never  charges  anything 
for  his  counsels.  His  advice  is  as  free  as  water — that  is  water  in  Western  Union 
stocks.  The  doctor  thinks  that  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph 
scheme  would  bankrupt  the  Government,  and  comes  forward  as  a faithful  friend  of 
the  people  and  tells  them  so.  He  says  there  is  no  money  in  the  telegraph  business. 
Well,  he  ought  to  know.  He  is  th^  president  of  a company  which  started  with  nothing 
and  has  made  many  of  its  stockholders  millionaires  several  times  over.  It  has  built  up 
a monopoly  which  has  never  failed  to  pay  handsome  dividends  on  about  ten  times  the 
amount  actually  invested.  It  pays  its  president  the  same  salary  as  that  received  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States.  It  has  always  had  plenty  of  money  to  buy  up 
almost  any  kind  of  legislation  it  desires.  It  does  a vast  amount  of  railroad  business 
free.  It  dead-heads  the  messages  of  Congressmen,  State  legislators,  supreme,  district. 
State,  and  county  court  judges;  it  maintains  offices  in  North  Carolina  that  do  not 
pay  25  cents  a day  in  gross  receipts.  Yet  he  claims  that  the  rates  charged  the  public 
on  messages  are  uot  excessive. 

Postmaster-General  Wauamaker,  in  his  plan  of  a cheaper  telegraph  service  to  the 
people,  did  not  contemplate  any  big  dividends,  “ attorney’s  fees”  or  dead-head  business. 
His  plau  was  to  equalize  the  cost  of  service.  Take  a part  of  the  burden  oft’  the 
shouhlers  of  the  people  and  place  it  on  these  fellows  who  “never  pay  a cent.” 

Mr.  Green  thinks  that  if  the  Government  intends  to  go  into  the  telegraph  business 
it  should  buy  up  all  existing  lines.  That  depends  upon  the  price  at  which  they  can 
be  bought.  If  the  companies  are  willing  to  sell  at  a reasonable  price,  the  prdpositiou 
is  fair,  but  if-^hey  expect  to  bleed  Uncle  Sam  to  cover  a capital  stock  which  has  no 
existence,  save  in  the  imagination  of  the  companies,  the  proposition  is  unfair. 

Postal  telegraph,  if  attempted,  will  be  largely  experimental.  Mr.  Wauamaker  can 
not  guaranty  the  success  of  his  plan ; but  it  looks  fair,  and  no  great  harm  can  come 
from  making  a test  of  it.  We  learn  by  experimenting,  and  if  after  a trial  the  disas- 
ters predicted  by  Mr.  Green  should  follow,  the  scheme  can  be  abandoned.  The 
people  will  never  be  satisfied  on  that  point  until  it  has  been  tried. 

[Boston  Traveller,  March  2,] 

The  more  thoroughly  the  system  of  postal  telegraph  recommended  by  Postmaster- 
General  Wanamaker  is  examined,  and  the  longer  the  hearing  given  by  the  House 
Committee  on  Post-offices  is  continued,  the  better  chance  the  system  stands  of  adop- 
tion by  Congress.  When  the  system  was  first  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General  it 


32 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES 


was  claimed  that  there  was  no  demand  for  it;  that  it  would  entail  a large  burden  of 
needless  expense  on  the  Post-office  Department,  and  that  it  was  utt  erly  iiupracticahle. 
The  objections  which  were  raised  have  one  by  one  been  met  and  satisfactorily  an- 
swered by  the  Postmaster-General,  and  it  transpires  that  almost  the  only  opposition 
made  to  the  scheme  is  inspired  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  The 
arguments  made  against  the  plan  by  Dr.  Norvin  Green  have  been  very  fully  answered, 
and  representatives  of  responsible  capitalists  announce  their  readiness  to  take  the 
contract  at  the  rates  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General,  rates,  which  in  themselves 
are  a guaranty,  that  the  proposed  postal  teldgraph  system  can  not  result  in  loss  to 
the  Government. 

[Pittsburgh  Commercial  Gazette,  March  3.] 

It  was  quite  in  the  order  of  things  that  Dr.  Green,  representing  the  corporations 
concerned,  should  have  made  a vigorous  attack  upon  Postmaster-General  Wana- 
maker’s  plan  for  establishing  a postal-telegraph  system.  The  telegraph  companies, 
which  make  large  dividends  by  serving  the  public,  do  not  wish  to  have  their  profits 
interfered  with,  as  they  would  be  to  a greater  or  less  extent  should  the  Government 
adopt  the  plan  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker.  The  Postmaster-General  was  further 
notified  that  his  order  fixing  the  telegraph  rates  for  Government  business  was  re- 
garded as  confiscation,  and  would  be  tested  in  the  courts. 

It  may  be  that  the  plan  proposed  w[ll  not  meet  the  expectations  of  the  Postmas- 
ter-General in  all  respects,  but  some  of  the  objections  urged  against  it  seem  trifling, 
while  others  are  groundless.  One  point  made  by  Dr.  Green  is  that  inasmuch  as 
the  President  has  not  indorsed  the  proposed  postal-telegraph  it  is  out  of  place  for  the 
Postmaster- General  to  appear  before  a committee  of  the  House  to  lobby  his  scheme 
through.  All  this  seems  foreign  to  the  merits  of  the  question.  The  proposition  has 
been  submitted  in  good  faith  in  the  interest  of  the  public,  and  there  must  be  a begin- 
ning if  the  principle  is  to  be  engrafted  upon  the  mail  service.  It  should  certainly  not 
be  left  to  those  corporations  who  are  piling  up  wealth  through  the  telegraph  service 
to  decide  upon  either  the  practicability  or  the  necessity  of  a postal-telegraph  system. 
Mr.  Wanamaker  has  no  personal  ends  to  subserve,  and  being  at  the  head  of  the  Post- 
office  Department,  he  is  just  the  man  to  lead  in  the  project. 

[Omaha  World-Herald,  March  3.] 

If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  another  the  people  of  the  country  will  not  stand,  it 
is  the  abuse  of  prominent  public  persons  by  those  whose  interests  are  affected  by 
their  official  action.  And  Mr.  Green  of  the  Western  Union  has  been  very  “ cross  ” 
with  the  Postmaster-General  for  reducing  the  rates  upon  Government  messages  to  a 
figure  far  below  that  which  had  been  previously  allowed.  He  starts  out  with  the 
usual  corporation  complaint  of  insufficient  rates  for  services  rendered,  and  says  that 
telegraph  messages  are  cheaper  in  the  United  States  than  elsewhere  in  the  world, 
but  he  omits  to  explain  how  the  Western  Union  has  been  enabled  to  make  million- 
aires of  all  its  owners  and  to  gobble  up  or  freeze  out  every  rival  company  that  ever 
has  been  started.  Then  the  gentleman,  who  is  nothing  if  not  critical,  objects  to  the 
action  of  the  Congressional  committee,  which  he  says  is  run  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and 
whose  proceedings  have  not  received  the  sanction  of  the  President.  This  is  true. 
Bat  the  time  for  the  President  to  speak  is  when  the  bill  comes  before  him  for  ap- 
proval. The  chief  executive  of  the  United  States  is  not  like  the  president  of  a tele- 
graph company  who  bosses  everybody,  and  who  is  not  required  to  furnish  vouchers 
for  his  expenditures. 

“When  Greek  meets  Greek,  then  comes  the  tug  of  war,”  but  when  a man  whose  life 
has  been  devoted  to  providing  “bargains”  for  the  public  comes  into  collision  with 
another  whose  whole  study  has  been  to  keep  up  rates  and  to  get  a quarter  for  sending 
a 10-cent  message  the  tug  becomes  tremendous.  The  school-boy  problem  of  the  irre- 
sistible force  striking  the  immovable  body  is  nothing  to  it.  The  independent  press 
has  sometimes  considered  it  to  be  its  duty  to  point  the  shafts  of  ridicule  at  Mr.  Wan- 
amaker and  in  a fatherly  manner  to  criticise  his  official  actions,  but  that  does  not  give 
Mr.  Green,  who  has  an  ax  to  grind,  the  right  to  pitch  into  him,  and  he  should  be 
told  and  taught  to  refrain  from  doing  so. 

[Daily  State  Gazette,  Trenton,  N.  J.,  March  3.J 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  the  President  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  is  in 
Washington,  strenuously  opposing  the  proposed  postal-telegraph  system.  Mr.  Green’s 
opposition  is  a very  strong  argument  in  its  favor. 

[Kansas  City  Journal,  March  3.1 

The  violent  opposition  of  the  Western  Union  to  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s 
Government  telegraph  scheme  will  be  apt  to  convince  some  heretofore  dubious  people 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


33 


that  a Government  telegraph  would  be  a very  good  thing  for  the  public.  There  is  a 
widespread, popular  notion  that  whatever  the  Western  Union  wants  the  public  does 
not  want,  and  vice  versa. 

[Cumberland,  (Md.)  Daily  News,  March  3.] 

In  pressing  upon  Congress  a simple  plan  for  the  adoption  of  postal-telegraph  facili- 
ties such  as  has  already  proved  so  successful  in  England,  Hon.  John  Wanamaker, 
Postmaster-General,  has  done  that  which  will  meet  with  hearty  popular  approval. 
Mr.  Wanamaker  asks  Congress  to  give  him  authority  to  enter  into  contract  with  re- 
sponsible parties  to  connect  about  460  special  delivery  offices  with  each  other  for 
telegraphic  purposes  by  leased  wires  and  instruments  to  be  operated  by  post-office 
employes  to  carry  messages  for  the  Government  and  the  public.  He  has  not  asked 
the  Government  to  purchase  or  build  a new  telegraph  line,  nor  to  create  a new  body 
of  employiis,  but  recommends  the  utilization  of  the  post-office  buildings,  clerks  and 
carriers  now  in  use.  He  proposes  to  secure  a set  of  leased  wires,  such  as  the  great 
newspapers  have  from  city  to  city.  The  messages  can  be  sent  directly  from  the  post- 
offices  or  be  dropped  in  the  mail-boxes  to  be  collected  by  carriers  and  telegraphed. 
The  Postmaster-General  thinks  that  the  clerks  and  carriers  now  under  pay  can  at 
each  office  handle  a few  messages  as  they  would  additional  letters.  One  requisite 
would  be  a knowledge  of  telegraphing  by  one  clerk  at  a majority  of  the  offices,  and 
another  would  be  an  added  rule  of  examination  in  telegraphing  by  the  Civil  Service 
Commission,  to  be  able  to  supply  clerks  who  have  that  accomplishment,  when  further 
appointments  are  to  be  made  for  this  specific  work. 

The  postal-telegrams  could  be  written  or  printed  on  postal -telegram  forms  or  cards, 
to  be  supplied  by  the  Post-Office  Department,  or  upon  any  other  suggested  forms,  to 
be  furnished  by  the  sender,  provided  that  in  the  latter  case  stamps  of  sufficient  value 
shall  be  affixed  to  the  communication  to  provide  for  the  cost  of  the  service.  It  ispro- 
posed  that  the  charges  in  any  one  State  shall  not  exceed  10  cents  for  messages  of 
twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature,  nor  over  25  cent^  for  any  dis- 
tance under  1,500  miles,  nor  over  50  cents  for  any  greater  distance. 

With  regard  to  the  question  of  rates,  when  Mr.  Wanamaker  appeared  before  the 
House  Committee  on  the  Post- Office  and  Post-Roads  and  was  asked  why  he  would  make 
distance  a basis,  as  was  the  case  forty  years  ago  in  transmitting  the  mails,  instead  of 
having  a fixed  rate  for  any  distance,  he  replied  that  in  the  initiative  we  could  not 
have  a universal  10  or  15  cent  rate,  for  it  would  give  us  so  much  business  that  we  could 
not  handle  it.  He  thought  the  wisest  plan  would  be  to  begin  with  graduated  rates 
and  distances  and  work  up  to  a uniform  rate  throughout  the  country.  There  are  other 
minor  details  of  the  Postmaster-General’s  plan,  but  the  above  are  the  most  important 
features. 

We  are  heartily  in  favor  of  the  plan,  and  think  it  would  redound  greatly  to  the  pub- 
lic convenience  and  facilitate  largely  swift  business  transactions.  Its  adoption  would 
make  an  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Post-Office  Department  and  reflect  lasting  credit 
upon  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  administration. 

[Detroit  Journal,  March  3.  ] 

President  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  evidently  injured  his 
i company  more  than  he  helped  it  by  his  appearance  and  arguments  before  the  House 
committee  which  is  considering  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  propositions  to  use 
the  Post-office  Department  and  its  rapid  delivery  and  carrier  system  for  such  tele- 
graph dispatches  as  people  may  want  to  send  in  that  way  at  lower  rates.  In  opposino- 
it  President  Green  contradicted  himself  by  saying  that  it  was  an  utterly  impractica* 
ble  and  money-losing  operation,  and  yet  his  conipany  would  be  injured  by  it  because 
I there  would  be  fools  enough  to  want  to  do  a losing  business  with  the  Government. 

He  also  opposed  it  because  only  one  person  in  fiity  now  uses  the  telegraph,  whereas 
the  very  object  of  the  new  plan  is  to  enlarge  the  use  and  increase  the  number  of  peo- 
ple that  would  avail  themselves  of  cheaper  telegraph  rates.  This  is  very  much  of  a 
piece  with  the  objections  of  the  street  car  companies  to  rapid  transit.  They  say  it  is 
in  the  interest  of  suburban  property  owners,  overlooking  the  fact  that  this  means 
that  more  people  would  ride  if  the  facilities  were  increased.  If  only  one  person  in 
'fifty  feels  able  to  afford  telegraphy,  it  is  high  time  to  try  and  make  it  cheaper. 

[Peoria  Transcript,  March  4.J 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  is  of  course  opposed 
to  Wanamaker’s  postal-telegraph  scheme.  So  also  it  is  to  be  supposed  is  Jay  Gould. 
If  any  one  supposed  that  the  men  who  control  the  telegraph  lines  are  in  favor  of 
lower  tolls  he  is  too  good  for  this  world.  When  Dr.  Green  went  so  far  as  to  say  ihat 
the  people  would  be  the  losers  by  alow  telegraph  rate  he  came  very  near  insulting 
the  intelligence  of  the  gentlemen  to  whom  he  was  talking. 

P T 3 


34 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Cleveland  Leader,  Marcli  4.] 

From  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company,  before  a House  committee  in  opposition  to  Postmaster-General  Wauamaker’s 
postal-telegraxih  recommendations,  one  might  imagine  that  the  Western  Union  was 
running  a sort  of  electro-eleemosynary  enterprise  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  American 
people,  and  that  the  company  was  likely  to  be  bankrupted  by  the  unprofitableness  of 
its  business.  It  is  well  to  remember,  however,  that  the  Western  Union  has  steadily 
paid  fi  per  cent,  dividends  on  a capitalization  of  $80,000,000,  besides  accumulating  a 
cash  surplus  of  $12,000,000,  and  that  its  plant  did  not  cost  originally  over  $20,000,000. 
The  net  earnings  of  the  company  for  four  years  would  pay  the  whole  cost  of  daplicat- 
ing  its  plant ; and  yet  Dr.  Green  insists  that  cheaper  rates  would  ruin  the  business. 

The  Postmaster-General  believes  that  there  is  room  for  a little  Government  compe- 
tition in  the  telegraph  business,  and  the  annual  reports  of  the  Western  Union  confirm 
his  opinion.  The  idea  that  the  Post-Office  Department  can  not  profitably  maintain 
postal-telegraph  communnication  between  its  free-delivery  offices  is  absurd  on  its  face, 
whatever  the  case  might  be  were  the  system  extended  to  all  offices,  as  in  England. 
The  cities  containing  free-delivery  offices  do  the  great  bulk  of  the  telegraph  business 
of  the  country,  and  any  new  and  efficient  telegraph  system  connecting  them  could 
make  a mint  of  money.  Nine-tenths  of  the  $7,000,000  to  $8,000,000  cleared  by  the 
Western  Union  last  year  was  from  the  business  done  in  the  447  free-delivery  cities, 
and  there  is  manifestly  an  opportunity  at  these  points  for  profitable  competition. 

Dr.  Green  says  it  would  cost  the  Government,  at  the  rates  paid  by  newspapers  for 
special  wires,  $3,000,000  a year  to  rent  wires,  as  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker.  This 
may  be  true,  and  it  may  also  be  true  that  the  service  could  be  profitably  conducted 
at  these  rates.  But  it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  the  Government  would  have 
to  pay  as  high  rates  as  those  charged  to  newspapers  by  the  Western  Union.  A new 
system  of  wires  could  undoubtedly  be  constructed  connecting  these  cities  at  a cost  of 
$10,000,000  or  less,  probably  a good  deal  less,  and  a 10  per  cent,  guaranty  on  this,  or 
$1,000,000  a year,  could  hardly  fail  to  induce  capitalists  to  provide  such  a system  for 
the  use  of  the  Department.  Probably  this  is  what  Dr.  Green  fears.  It  is  gratifying 
to  note  that  a majority  of  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  ap- 
pear to  take  more  kindly  to  the  suggestions  of  Mr.  Wanamaker  than  to  those  of  Dr. 
Green. 

[Peoria  Transcript,  March  4.] 

It  is  something  new  for  a telegraph  company  to  come  to  the  defense  of  the  farmers 
of  the  United  States.  And  yet  Dr.  Green  gravely  assured  the  committee  having  the 
postal  telegraph  bill  under  consideration  that  the  farmers  and  artisans  of  this  coun- 
try had  no  occasion  to  use  the  telegraph  once  a year,  and  consetiuently  a postal  tele- 
graph would  work  to  their  injury.  It  is  about  on  a par  with  the  Democratic  argu- 
ment that  all  that  is  needed  to  secure  agricultural  prosperity  is  to  admit  free  the 
same  articles  produced  by  the  farmers  of  other  countries,  and  that  the  American 
workingman  would  be  benefited  by  the  prostration  of  American  industries. 

[St.  Josheph  Herald,  March  4.] 

The  growing  popularity  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  bill 
is  causing  consternation  and  dismay  in  the  camp  of  the  Western  Union  magnates  and 
they  have  gone  to  work  with  their  usual  energy  to  defeat  the  measure.  The  fact  is 
well  knowm  among  the  men  who  have  had  a business  connection  with  this  gigantic 
monopoly  that  the  auditor  of  the  company  has  been  called  upon  to  audit  accounts  for 
large  sums  of  money  that  have  been  used  during  the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years  to 
checkmate  the  different  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  establish  the  postal-telegraph 
system.  In  just  what  manner  this  money  was  distributed  the  people  cau  judge  for 
themselves,  but  those  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  the  tactics  that  are  geim, rally 
adopted  by  the  Western  Union  people  to  suppress  and  annihilate  every  movement  that 
is  inaugurated  against  their  business  interests,  will  not  be  long  in  arriving  at  the  con- 
clusion that  the  fund  set  apart  for  that  purpose  has  usually  been  expended  where  it 
would  do  the  most  good.  Every  practical  man  in  the  telegraphic  i)rofession  who  is 
not  under  the  influence  and  control  of  this  greatest  of  all  monopolies  is  ready  and  ca- 
pable of  successfully  controverting  the  fine-spun  theories  advanced  by  President 
Green  and  his  subsidized  advocates,  that  the  rates  now  charged  for  telegrams  are  as 
low  as  possible  in  order  that  the  business  may  be  self-sustaiuing.  The  truth  of  this 
assertion  is  obvious  when  it  is  taken  into  consideration  that  the  Western  Union  Com- 
pany regularly  declares  large  quarterly  dividends. 

This  is  not  the  only  striking  proof  that  can  be  advanced  in  behalf  of  the  statement, 
for  it  is  well  known  that  this  company  has  been  able  to  swallow  the  numerous  pow- 
erful enterprises  that  have  been  organized  in  opposition  thereto.  Why  could  this  be 
done?  Simply  because  the  Western  Union  is  such  a rapidly  money  making  concern 
it  had  a sufficient  surplus  to  draw  upon  for  the  purpose  of  satisfying  the  cravings  of 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


35 


the  owners  of  the  opposing  lines,  and  had  no  trouble  in  watering  its  stock  to  any 
amount  necessary  to  play  even  in  the  end  and  still  keep  its  stock  afloat  upon  the  mar- 
ket. They  paid  several  times  the  actual  cost  of  construction  in  each  case  where  they 
absorbed  a would-be  rival,  and  it  is  a notorious  fact  that  the  capital  stock  of  the  com- 
pany which  is  represented  by  bonds  upon  the  market  is  so  much  in  excess  of  the  real 
value  of  the  whole  plant  the  company  could  not  defray  its  operating  expenses  and 
still  be  enabled  to  declare  such  handsome  dividends  without  the  profits  arising  from 
the  business  were  regular  and  enormous.  Notwithstanding  these  significant  and  con- 
vincing facts.  Dr.  Green  has  the  supreme  audacity  to  emphatically  proclaim  that  the 
bottom  figure  has  been  reached  in  telegraphic  rates,  and  that  the  Government  would 
meet  with  failure  and  disaster  should  it  attempt  to  conduct  the  business  itself,  with 
the  hope  and  desire  of  making  it  self-sustaining.  If  the  men  who  are  now  controll- 
ing the  destinies  of  the  Western  Union  Company  can  amass  such  immense  fortunes 
out  of  its  surplus  earnings,  does  it  not  appear  reasonable  to  believe  that  the  Govern- 
ment could  make  a material  reduction  in  the  tolls  and  at  least  pay  the  operating 
expenses  ? When  men  are  attempring  to  controvert  facts  that  are  so  plain  and  convin- 
cing as  these  ihey  invariably  resort  to  every  possible  subterfuge  and  endeavor  by  sub- 
tile arguments  to  confuse  the  minds  of  those  they  can  not  convince.  The  statement 
made  by  Dr.  Green  that  the  Government  would  not  be  able  to  conduct  the  tele- 
graphic business  in  an  economical  and  successful  manner  because  its  employes  would 
be  wanting  in  experience  and  capacity  is  a subterfuge  indeed,  and  a very  weak  and 
transparent  one. 

President  Green  fully  understands,  as  do  all  intelligent  men,  that  if  the  postal  tele- 
graph bill  btjcomes  a law,  the  Western  Union  Company  will  be  anxious  and  willing 
to  sell  to  the  Government  its  entire  plant  and  business  at  a reasonable  compensation. 
He  knows,  further,  that  if  the  law  is  enacted  the  Government  will  make  the  pur- 
chase, and  that  about  the  same  men  who  are  doing  the  work  now  would  do  it  then. 
In  tact,  if  the  Government  should  assume  charge  of  the  business,  the  transfer  to  it 
would  be  so  easy  and  practical  as  to  not  interfere  with  the  systematic  working  thereof 
a day.  Furthermore,  the  Government  has  made  the  grandest  business  success  in  the 
world  of  its  postal  system,  not  excepting  any  other  private  or  public  enterprise  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  If  this  branch  of  the  public  service  could  be  reduced  to 
such  a remarkably  successful  and  self-sustaining  condition,  why  can  not  the  telegraph 
be  consolidated  therewith,  and  the  same  employes,  to  a very  great  extent,  and  the 
same  buildings,  be  used  for  both.  If  the  St.  Joseph  post-office  and  telegraph  offices 
were  under  one  roof  and  one  management  the  amount  saved,  which  is  now  expended 
for  the  two  working  forces,  would  be  enormous.  For  instance,  the  postmaster  would 
be  the  manager,  thereby  saving,  say  |1,500  per  year.  Then  the  book-keepers,  deliv- 
ery clerks,  the  heavy  rent,  and  incidental  expenses  of  the  telegraph  office  would  be 
saved,  and  taken  altogether,  the  saving  would  be  great  indeed.  In  the  small  country 
offices  the  postmaster  could  soon  learn  the  art,  or  some  one  could  be  appointed  who 
already  understood  it.  Nearly  all  country  offices,  however,  require  an  assistant,  and 
a practical  telegrapher  could  "be  employed  in  that  capacity. 

The  facts  and  figures  promulgated  in  support  of  the  pending  bill  are  manifold  and 
convincing,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  such  a strong  sentiment  has  been  created  among 
Congressmen  and  the  general  public  in  its  favor. 

Another  principle  is  involved  in  the  question  that  has  an  important  bearing  upon 
the  matter.  It  is  the  fact  that  under  the  management  and  control  of  an  avaricious  and 
conscienceless  corporation  the  members  of  the  telegraphic  profession  will  always  be 
kept  poor  and  dependent  and  be  the  victims  of  tyrannical  petty  officials.  They  are  now 
paid  barely  enough  to  eke  out  a meager  existence,  and  the  company  now  never  fails 
to  take  advantage  of  an  opportunity  to  reduce  the  salary  of  a single  individual.  The 
Government  believes  in  paying  liberally  for  services  rendered,  and  the  passage  of  the 
bill  will  therefore  be  heartily  indorsed  by  the  men  who  do  all  of  the  work,  but  receive 
no  benefit  from  the  immense  surplus  that  is  the  direct  result  of  their  being  so  poorly 
paid. 

If  the  enactment  of  the  law  will  give  the  people  cheap  telegraph  tolls  and  confer  a 
lasting  benefit  upon  the  men  and  women  who  do  the  work,  who  will  lift  a hand 
against  it  except  those  who  are  governed  by  a desire  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  people  and  a profession  that  deserves  a better  fate. 

[Los  Angele.s  Times,  March  4.1 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  in  earnest  in  the  matter  of  postal  telegraph 
facilities.  His  statement  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Office  contains  some 
strong  arguments  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  propose  that  the  Government  should  purchase  or  build  a 
telegraph  line  ; he  does  not  ask  the  appropriation  of  a large  sum  from  the  Treasury, 
nor  the  creating  of  a new  body  of  employes,  but  recommends  the  utilization  of  the 
post-<'ffice  buildings,  clerks,  and  carriers  now  in  use  for  a convenience  and  economy  of 
service,  which  he  believes  will  greatly  accommodate  the  public.  The  telegraphic 


36 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


business  is  now  divorced  from  the  post-ofiSce,  though  it  is  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  carrying  of  messages.  Mr.  Wauamaker  proposes  a union  of  post  and  telegraph 
on  a basis  that,  in  his  judgment,  will  not  interfere  to  any  appreciable  extent  with 
■any  existing  rights,  but  that  will  offer  great  service  to  classes  not  now  enjoying  the, 
use  of  the  telegraph  to  any  marked  degree.  The  Postmaster-General  desires  to  nego- 
tiate and  secure  a set  of  leased  wires,  such  as  the  great  newspapers  have  from  city  to 
city,  or  brokers  and  bankers  frequently  have  connecting  their  business  offices  in  the 
different  cities,  in  order  that  the  people  may  communicate  through  the  post-offices 
from  city  to  city  or  by  drop  messages  in  their  mail  boxes,  to  be  collected  by  carriers 
and  telegraphed. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  Mr.  AVauamaker’s  proposed  plan  would  at  once  become 
very  popular  if  inaugurated. 

[Jacksonville  (111 ) Journal,  March  5.] 

It  is  something  new  for  a telegraph  company  to  come  to  the  defense  of  the  farmers  of 
the  United  States.  And  yet  Dr.  Green  gravely  assured  the  committee  having  the  postal 
telegraph  bill  under  consideration  that  the  farmers  and  artisans  of  this  country  had  no 
occasion  to  use  the  telegraph  once  a year,  and  consequently  a postal  telegraph  would 
work  to  their  injury.  It  is  about  on  a par  with  the  Democratic  argument  that  all 
that  is  needed  to  secure  agricultural  prosperity  is  to  admit  free  the  same  articles  pro- 
duced by  the  farmers  of  other  countries,  and  that  the  American  workingman  would 
be  benefited  by  the  prostration  of  American  industries. 

[Duluth  Herald,  March  5.] 

The  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  been  arguing  before 
the  Post-Office  Committee  against  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph 
bill.  He  takes  the  ground  that  the  United  States  Government  has  no  business  with 
the  management  of  the  telegraph  ; it  could  not  manage  it  as  cheaply  ; it  could  not  do 
it  better,  and  none  ofthe  senders  of  the  telegrams  had  asked  it.  The  proposed  reduction 
in  rates  by  the  Government  would  result  in  a deficiency  which  would  have  to  be  made 
up  by  the  57,000,000  people  who  did  not  use  the  telegraph.  If  the  Government  wanted 
to  go  into  the  telegraph  business,  it  should  buy  the  lines  outright.  It  should  not 
seek  to  fix  losing  rates  for  existing  companies;  that  would  not  be  fair  to  the  3,000 
stockholders  of  the  Western  Union.  The  Government  would  need  twice  as  many 
'' lines  as  were  now  in  existence  to  do  business.  There  was  a scheme  presented  to  go 
to  447  post-offices  where  there  was  free  delivery,  and  where  there  were  abundant  tele- 
graph facilities.  This  was  the  entering  wedge  of  a movement  to  break  down  the 
present  companies  and  establish  a complete  Government  telegraph,  and  against  that 
he  protested.  He  compared  the  American  and  English  telegraph  systems,  and  main- 
tained that  our  rates  were  in  reality  (taking  into  account  free  addresses  and  signa- 
tures, and  the  enormous  area  of  territory  covered),  much  lower  than  the  English  low 
rales.  And  yet  it  is  proposed  to  reduce  these  rates  arbitrarily  still  lower.  We  think 
that  the  existing  telegraph  companies  should  be  treated  with  entire  fairness,  but  the 
advantage  of  the  whole  people  should  be  put  above  any  individual  preference.  If 
it  is  decided  upon  careful  consideration  that  it  will  advantage  the  nation  to  establish 
a postal  telegraph  system,  let  us  have  the  system,  and  if  it  can  not  be  maintained  in 
fairness  without  acquiring  the  whole  telegraph  system  of  the  country,  as  Mr.  Green 
urges,  let  the  nation  take  in  the  whole  system,  but  without  any  extravagant  allow- 
ance for  the  water  in  its  stock. 

[CoiTj  (Pa.)  Herald,  March  6.] 

“ I hold  and  declare  most  emphatically  that  such  a service  is  the  legitimate  work  of 
the  Post-Office  and  that  the  people  are  right  in  stoutly  demandiug  telegraph  facilities 
at  postal  stations  ” — {John  M an ama]{er,Postmasier- General.) 

Mr.  Wanamaker  has  unquestionably  seized  upon  a great  and  important  fact.  The 
great  body  of  the  Americans  have  long  been  convinced  that  the  Government  should 
go  farther  than  Mr.  Wanamaker  proposes  to  go.  The  business  interests  of  the  coun- 
try have  long  demanded  cheap  telegraph  service  under  the  control  of  the  Govern- 
ment. In  asking  Congress  to  authorize  the  establishment  of  telegraph  service  be- 
tween three  hundred  principal  post-offices  of  the  country,  the  Postmaster-General 
asks  for  a part  only  of  w'hat  the  people  demand.  It  is  perhaps  as  much  or  more  than 
Congress  w ill  consent  to  wrench  trom  the  grasp  of  a monopoly  which  has  so  many 
I)aid  attorneys  among  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  Congress.  Three  hundred 
such  offices  would  be  of  very  material  benefit  to  the  business  interests  of  the  country. 
But  it  falls  far  short  of  the  i)ublic  necessities.  The  argument  that  the  Government 
already  has  the  buildings  necessary  for  offices  and  the  employes  necessary  to  render 
all  the  service  applies  to  thousands  of  otfices  as  well  as  to  three  hundred.  A table 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


37 


presented,  by  the  Postmaster-General  shows,  by  comparison  with  England,  our  defi- 
ciency. We  lead  Great  Britain  in  the  number  of  communications  by  mail  but  fall 
far  behind  in  the  uuraber  of  telegrams.  This  is  especially  significant  when  we  con- 
sider the  area  of  the  territory  covered  and  that  the  telegraph  is  especially  important 
and  necessary  in  quick  communication  over  long  distances.  The  population  of 
Great  Britain  is  64  per  cent,  as  great  as  that  of  the  United  States,  and  her  mail  serv- 
ice is  61  per  cent,  that  of  ours.  With  her  small  amount  of  territory  her  telegraph 
business  if  91  per  cent,  of  ours.  Gr^'at  Britain  handles  annually  by  mail  63  pieces  per 
person,  and  the  United  States  76  pieces;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  Great  Britain  sends 
160  telegrams  per  1,000  of  her  population,  while  the  United  States  sends  118.  Com- 
pared with  Great  Britain,  the  Postmaster- General  very  justly  says  we  should,  because 
of  our  great  distances,  show  by  far  the  greatest  number  of  telegrams  per  1,000  of 
population. 

^Harrisburg  Call,  March  6.] 

The  attention  that  is  beiug  giving  to  the  question  of  Governmental  telegraph  by 
the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  gives  promise  that  the  matter 
is  to  be  definitely  settled  one  way  or  the  other  at  this  time.  Government  telegraph 
in  some  form  or  another  has  come  before  every  Congress  for  a number  of  years,  but 
no  definite  conclusion  has  been  reached. 

One  of  the  objections  urged  against  the  Government  taking  hold  of  the  transmis- 
sion of  telegraphic  dispatches  is  the  fact  that  such  a proceeding  would  create  a deficit 
in  the  Post-Office  Department.  This  is  probably  true,  but  even  though  it  be,  the 
fact  should  not  be  allowed  to  stand  in  the  way  of  the  Government  increasing  the 
facilities  of  the  Department.  The  Post-Office  Department  is  not  run  as  a money- 
making machine,  but  for  the  accommodation  of  the  people,  and  every  effort  should 
be  made  to  give  this  accommodation  the  widest  possible  scope. 

This  is  what  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  scheme  proposes  to  do.  It  is  not 
intended  that  the  Government  should  build  lines  of  its  own  all  over  the  country  at 
an  euorinous  expense,  but  that  it  should  make  a contract  with  some  company  already 
owning  lines,  for  the  transmission  of  messages  at  the  lowest  possible  rates. 

At  the  hearing  before  the  committee  the  other  day  D.  H.  Bates,  representing  a syn- 
dicate of  men  interested  in  postal  telegraphy,  argued  in  favor  of  the  passage  of  the 
bill.  From  his  remarks  it  appears  evident  that  this  syndicate  is  ready  to  contract 
with  the  Government  for  the  transmission  of  messages  at  about  the  rate  of  15  cents 
for  a distance  of  500  miles.  This  would  be  a very  reasonable  rate  and  much  below  that 
now  charged  by  the  Western  Union. 

Under  the  proposed  plan  postal  telegraphy  seems  feasible,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that 
Congress  will  see  its  way  clear  to  the  passage  of  a bill  authorizing  its  trial. 

[Carthage  (Mo.)  Press,  March  6.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  making  a good  fight  for  a postal  telegraph 
system,  and  by  so  doing  has  won  the  hatred  and  personal  abuse  of  Dr.  Green,  the 
president  of  the  Western  Union  Company.  He  also  won  the  gratitude  of  the  people, 
which  is  of  more  importance  to  him  thau  the  hatred  of  the  telegraphic  monopolists. 
If  Mr.  Wanamaker  is  the  man  we  think  him,  the  personal  abuse  and  arrogant  man- 
ner of  that  monopoly  representative  will  convince  him  of  the  urgent  necessity  of  a 
postal  telegraph  for  the  people  and  cause  him  to  renew  his  efforts  to  secure  it. 

[Bellef«nte  (Pa.)  Hews,  March 6.] 

Your  article  under  the  caption  of  “ Wanamaker  a calamity  to  the  Republican  party’’ 
in  Wednesday’s  News  is  an  unwarranted  attack  upon  Wanamaker  in  his  fight  for  the 
cause  of  the  people  against  a grasping,  greedy  corporation.  You  appear  to  be  utterly 
oblivious  of  the  fact  that  it  is  a fight  for  the  newspaper  as  well ; and  calling  upon 
the  Republican  press  of  the  country  to  call  a halt  upon  such  actions  by  the  Postmas- 
ter-General, when  the  press  of  all  parties  has  been  and  will  continue  to  advocate  the 
national  control  of  the  telegraph,  is  only  cutting  the  throat  of  the  party  and  will 
f lose  to  it  more  than  its  gains. 

Your  deductions  as  to  its  probable  effect  are  certainly  wrong.  Four  years  ago  pe- 
titions from  every  Congressional  district  in  the  United  States  were  sent  to  Congress, 
signecl  by  almost  one  million  names  in  support  of  a postal  telegranh  system.  Now, 
then,  if  we  can  use  that  just  as  a criticism  to  judge  the  sentiments  of  the  people  on 
the  question,  will  not  the  party  that  advocates  a measure  of  that  kind  receive  the 
support  of  those  people  ? Undoubtedly  so;  where,  then,  are  the  grounds  for  an  ad- 
verse conclusion  ? 

The  Republican  party  claims  and  may  perhaps  be  justly  called  the  party  of  prog- 
ress, and  granting  this  to  be  the  truth,  how  can  it  be  built  upon  foundations  of 
which  the  corner-stone  is  the  protection  of  private  enterprise  and  that  protects  private 
enterprise  ? It  has  protected  private  enterprise  in  the  form  of  the  Western  Union 


38 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


and  other  telegraph  companies  by  allowing  them  to  roh  the  people  of  this  country  of 
$100,000,000  in  the  space  of  twelve  years  on  an  invested  capital  of  less  than  one- 
fourth  of  that  amount.  Do  we  call  this  progress?  Is  it  dispensing  justice  and 
equity  to  all  the  people  to  allow  one  portion  to  rob  the  other? 

The  Postmaster-General  does  not  go  quite  far  enough  in  his  proposition.  He  should 
recommend  that  the  Government  engage  in  the  telegraph  business  and  own  and 
operate  its  own  lines.  The  transmission  of  intelligence  in  the  early  days  of  the 
country  was  in  the  hands  of  private  individuals  ; then  the  Government  established 
the  post-office  system,  and  the  people  claimed  it  as  their  right  to  carry  the  mails  iu 
their  governmental  capacity.  If  there  had  been  any  idea  of  the  extent  which  the 
business  would  increase  at  that  time  there  would  have  been  Shy  locks  raising  the  cry 
that  the  Government  had  no  right  to  enter  into  it,  the  same  as  there  are  now  when  it 
is  recommended  that  the  Government  establish  a telegraph  system.  How  ready  were 
the  inventors  of  the  telegraph  to  ask  for  an  appropriation  from  Congress  to  establish 
the  first  line  of  telegraph  ? No  private  enterprise  would  venture  to  invest  $40,000  iu 
its  establishment.  Oh,  no.  They  wanted  the  Government  to  experiment  with  it  and 
discover  its  merits  for  their  own  benefit.  The  people  of  the  United  States  made  the 
first  telegraph  lines  a success,  and  why  not  allow  them  to  reap  the  benefit  of  their 
first  investment  ? They  must  have  it  and  they  will  have  it.  The  cry  has^  gone  up 
all  over  the  land  for  relief  from  the  oppression  of  monopoly,  and  the  party ’that  will 
heed  the  cry  and  demand  of  the  people  will  be  the  party  of  the  future. 

If  the  Republican  party  commits  itself  to  the  establishment  of  a national  tele- 
graphic system,  instead  of  it  being  a calamity  or  its  advocates  being  such,  it  will 
only  be  the  means  of  inspiring  confidence  in  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  people.  Let 
the  party  arouse  itself  from  its  lethargy,  listen  to  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  take 
hold  of  this  and  similar  questions  with  the  same  spirit  it  did  when  the  slave  question 
was  agitating  the  minds  of  this  great  Republic.  On  the  other  hand,  permit  itself  to 
be  led  by  men  of  such  pessimistic  views,  it  will  never  more  hold  the  reins  of  Govern- 
ment. 

In  conclusion  you  say  : “ That  a great  political  party  should  be  held  responsible 
for  the  vagaries  of  a Cabinet  minister  is  quite  deplorable,  but  when  these  atfect  in 
their  purpose  the  material  interests  of  large  classes  of  the  people,  his  attitude  visits 
the  party  as  a calamity  by  insuring  its  defeat  in  great  States  precariously  Republi- 
can.” The  large  (?)  classes  affected  by  the  proposed  legislation — How  large  a class 
is  it?  one  in  one  thousand.  This  is  the  most  astonishing  thing  every  written.  The 
fact  is  evidently  overlooked  that  there  are  over  sixty-five  million  people  in  this  coun- 
try. Another  thing,  if  the  Republicans  or  any  other  party  must  be  afraid  to  do  a 
thing  because  it  is  right,  then  it  had  better  fail  in  the  States  precariously  Republi- 
can.”— Independent  Republican. 

[Palouse  City  (Wash.)  News,  March  6.] 

Mr.  Wanamaker,  the  Postmaster-General,  has  proposed  to  Congress  that  the  Gov- 
ernment establish  telegraph  lines  in  connection  with  the  post-offices.  He  estimates 
that  the  cost  of  telegraphing  will  be  reduced  to  about  one-third  what  it  is  now.  A 
president  of  the  telegraphic  line  has  appeared  before  the  Congressional  committee  to 
oppose  the  measure.  Mr.  Wanamaker  also  appears  before  the  committee  in  behalf  of 
the  enterprise.  The  representative  of  the  companies  is  evidently  having  a difficult 
task,  for  he  so  far  forgets  himself  as  to  find  fault  with  the  Postmaster-General  becaus- 
he  advocates  his  own  suggestion  before  the  committee.  This  shows  weakness.  The 
Postmaster-General  is  a practical  man  of  affairs,  and  it  is  his  duty  to  project  any  enter- 
prise that  will  give  the  people  better  facilities  for  communicating  with  each  other. 
Our  telegraph  and  telephone  lines  are  not  only  verj^  expensive,  but  they  are  very 
badly  managed.  Letters  often  travel  faster  in  the  mails  than  dispatches  do  over  the 
wires.  Our  dispatches  are  often  carried  a half  day  in  the  pockets  of  operators  before 
delivery.  Pew  things  are  more  exasperating  than  the  manner  in  which  our  tele- 
graph and  telephone  lines  are  operated.  They  cost  too  much  and  they  are  operated 
too  carelessly.  We  hope  the  Postmaster-General  will  persevere  iu  his  attempt.  It 
must  be  done  sooner  or  later.  The  people  will  have  it  whether  those  owning  the 
present  lines  want  them  to  have  it  or  not.  They  have  made  money  out  of  the  enter- 
prise and  if  they  will  sell  their  lines  for  a fair  price  the  Govenuneut  will  buy  them. 

Please  persevere,  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and  give  us  postal  telegraphs. 

[Decatur  Despatch,  March  6.1 

There  is  abundant  evidence  of  considerable  interest  in  the  proposition  of  Postmas- 
ter-General Wanamaker  to  establish  a Government  postal  telegraph  service.  Mr.  D 
H.  Bates,  a gentleman  from  New  York,  who  has  had  some  thirty  years’  experience  in. 
the  telegraph  service,  appeared  before  the  House  committee  a few  days  ago  and  ar- 
gued that  Mr.  Wauainaker’s  plan  was  altogether  feasible  and  should  become  a law. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


39 


He  also  stated  that  he,  iii  conjunctiou  with  other  geutlemeu  from  New  York,  stood 
ready  to  construct  the  lines  for  the  Government.  There  is,  undoubtedly,  a demand 
on  the  part  of  tlie  public  for  legislation  in  this  direction  and  it  will  not  be  at  all  sur- 
prising should  Congress,  within  the  next  few  years,  and  perhaps  earlier,  enact  a law 
establishing  a Government  postal  telegraph  service. 

[Eichmond  Dispatch,  March  6.1 

We  like  the  manner  of  Mr.  D.  H.  Bates’s  remarks  on  Tuesday  last  to  the  House  of 
Representatives  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  sitting  to  hear  speeches 
and  testimony  both  for  and  against  the  establishment  of  a Government  postal  tele- 
graph. His  matter  was  not  so  good.  He  sides  with  Mr.  Wanatnaker  in  favor  of  the 
Government’s  leasing  telegraphs  rather  than  with  the  members  of  the  committee,  who 
prefer  that  the  Government  should  have  a telegrai)h  of  its  own.  Mr.  Bates  said  he 
had  been  thirty  years  in  the  telegraph  business,  five  of  which  had  been  spent  in  the 
Government  telegraph  service.  That  he  is  an  expert,  his  testimony  shows. 

How  reckless  I)r.  Norvin  Green  was  in  his  statements  before  the  committee  let  Mr. 
Bates  tell.  The  Washington  Post  reports  the  latter  as  follows  : 

“Dr.  Green  had  stated  before  the  committee,  said  Mr.  Bates,  that  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Telegraph  Compan}’-  had  started  out  to  smash  things,  and  had  done  so.  In 
order  to  disprove  these  statements,  Mr.  Bates  outlined  a histoiy  of  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Telegraph  Company,  showing  that  the  company  had  not  been  organized  to  last 
a short  time,  but  had  lived  for  a number  of  years.  As  to  the  charge  by  Dr.  Green 
that  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company  had  nearly  ruined  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  Mr.  Bates  quoted  figures  to  show  that  there  was  no  loss 
in  operation  of  the  telegraph  company.  There  was  a slight  profit  during  the  last  five 
or  six  months  that  the  company  lived.  Dr.  Green’s  statement  that  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Railroad  Company  had  been  compelled  to  sell  its  cars  and  other  property  Mr. 
Bates  characterized  as  absurd. 

“Dr.  Green,  said  Mr.  Bates,  had  stated  that  the  Western  Union  had  not  reduced  its 
rates  below  those  of  its  competitors.  This,  he  said,  was  a mistake.  The  Western 
Union  had  at  one  time  reduced  its  rates  on  some  lines  below  those  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio.” 

Mr.  Bates  said  there  was  a demand  on  the  part  of  the  people  for  a Government 
telegraph  service.  He  also  said  that  the  Western  Union  had  made  over  one  hundred 
millions  of  dollars  in  twenty  years. 

The  people  want  a Government  telegraph  and  they  are  going  to  have  one. 

[Bloomington  Pantagrapb,  March  6.] 

A leading  telegraph  man  of  New  York  appeared  before  the  House  committee  to 
advocate  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a limited 
postal  telegraph  service.  He  stated  that  he  represented  a company  of  gentlemen 
who  were  prepared  to  build  telegraph  lines  provided  the  rates  in  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  bill  should  be  remunerative.  He  further  stated  that  there  were  hundreds 
of  telegraph  offices  situated  in  this  country  where  the  postmasters  were  the  operators. 
In  these  offices  he  thought  the  best  joint  service  could  be  given.  The  sentiment  in 
favor  of  the  postal  telegraph  is  gaining  ground  at  Washington. 

[St.  Joseph  Union,  March  6.] 

The  growing  popularity  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  bill 
is  causing  consternation  and  dismay  in  the  camp  of  the  Western  Union  magnates, 
and  they  have  gone  to  work  with  their  usual  energy  to  defeat  the  measure.  The  fact 
is  well, known  among  the  men  who  have  had  a business  connection  with  this  gigantic 
monopoly  that  the  auditor  of  the  company  has  been  calledupon  to  audit  accounts  for 
large  sums  of  -money  that  have  been  used  during  the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years  to 
checkmate  the  different  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  establish  the  postal  tele- 
graph system.  In  just  what  manner  this  money  was  distributed  the  people  can  judge 
for  themselves,  but  those  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  the  tactics  that  are  gen- 
erally adopted  by  the  Western  Union  people  to  suppress  and  annihilate  every  move- 
ment that  isinaugurated  against  their  business  interests,  will  not  belong  in  arriving 
at  the  conclusion  that  the  fund  set  apart  for  that  purpose  has  usually  been  expended 
where  it  would  do  the  most  good. 

[Seward  (Neh.)  Eeporter,  March  6.J 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has  made 
a strong  argument  before  the  committee  in  opposition  to  Postmaster-General  Wana- 
maker’s plan  for  a postal  telegraph.  Dr.  Green,  of  course,  has  to  do  all  he  can  to 
earn  his  salary. 


40 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


f Pittsburgh  Times,  March  7.], 

From  VVasliiugton  we  learn  that  never  before  was  the  prosi)ect  for  a postal  telegraph 
so  good  as  at  present — not  that  all  the  obstacles  have  by  any  means  been  removed,  but 
headway  has  been  made  in  creating  a favoring  sentiment  and  demonstrating  the 
feasibility  of  the  new  agency.  The  time  is  nearer  to-day  than  ever  before,  and  much 
nearer  perhaps  than  even  the  most  hopeful  think.  From  New  York  comes  a report 
that  a company  of  capitalists  is  organizing  to  build  an  extensive  telegraph  system 
for  the  Government  in  case  the  Postmaster-General  fails  to  make  an  arrangement 
with  the  Western  Union.  As  great  progress  is  making  towards  a consummation  as 
can  reasonably  be  expected.  Were  it  an  original  proposition  with  no  powerful  cor- 
poration with  adverse  interests  standing  in  the  way,  the  postal  telegraph  system 
would  not  be  long  delayed.  The  removal  or  the  surmounting  of  this  obstacle  is  first 
to  be  accomplished,  which  is  not  the  work  of  a day,  but  accomplished  it  is  bound  to 
be. 

[St.  Paul  Globe,  March  7.] 

The  vehemence  manifested  by  Dr.  Green,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  in  his  statements  before  the  House  committee  in  opposition  to  the 
postal  telegraph  scheme,  is  calculated  to  weaken  doubts  as  to  the  utility  of  the  proj- 
ect. The  man  protests  too  much,  and  his  solicitude  that  the  Government  shall  not 
blunder  in  an  unprofitable  direction  is  still  more  doubt-dispelling.  The  impression 
that  the  company,  revamped  and  swollen  by  Jay  Gould,  is  simply  a benevolent  insti- 
tution doing  arduous  duty  for  the  public  for  meager  recompense,  is  not  one  to  be  dif- 
fused in  intelligent  minds.  With  a capital  watered  up  from  $20,000,000  to  $80,000,000, 
it  pays  6 per  cent,  dividends  right  along,  putting  aside  a cash  surplus  of  $12,000,000. 
The  profits  last  year  were  from  $7,000,0^00  to  $8,000,000.  Dr.  Green  is  evidently  in 
error  when  he  assumes  that  any  lessening  of  the  telegraph  rates  would  be  serious  to 
the  business.  An  enterprise  that  returns  from  20  to  25  per  cent,  on  its  actual  cost  is 
not  in  need  of  special  sacrifice  on  the  part  of  the  public.  The  present  aim  of  the 
Postmaster-General  is  to  establish  telegraph  service  in  connection  with  postal  de- 
partment between  the  free  delivery  offices.  There  are  447  of  these,  and  probably 
nine-tenths  of  the  telegraphic  business  is  between  those  cities.  The  English  service 
extends  to  all  offices.  It  is  designed  to  lease  wires  of  the  Western  Union  and  greatly 
cheapen  rates.  Where  none  can  be  leased  on  reasonable  terms,  the  Government  will 
erect  lines  of  its  own.  This  may  be  an  unpleasant  apprehension  to  Dr.  Green.  The 
experience  in  England  affords  encouragement  for  the  advocates  of  the  scheme  proj- 
ected by  the  Postmaster-General 

[The  Journalist,  March  8.] 

When  Dr.  Norvin  Green  appears  before  a Congressional  committee  he  proceeds  to 
make  assertions  that  may  be  accepted  by  non-professionals,  but  which  are  recognized 
at  a glance  as  gems  of  purest  ray  serene,  viewed  as  specimens  of  romance,  by  those 
who  are  familiar  with  telegraphic  history.  He  said  the  other  day,  as  to  low  rates,  that 
“ the  Western  Union  has  never  fought  opposition  companies  with  low  rates;  the  op- 
position companies  have  butted  against  the  Western  Union.  The  last  formidable 
competitor  it  had  was  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company.  They  started  in 
to  smash  things  and  they  did  it.  The  company  ruined  three  competing  companies, 
ruined  itself,  and  so  near  ruined  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company  that  it 
was  obliged  to  sell  its  sleeping  cars  and  construction  shops  to  tide  over  the  financial 
stress.  That  was  the  last  of  the  low-rate  fights.” 

No  one  arising  in  his  wrath  to  protest  against  such  a monstrous  misstatement  as 
this  going  on  record,  the  genial  but  delusive  doctor  went  on  to  make  other  assertions 
of  equal  accuracy  and  value.  The  truth  about  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Telegraph 
Company  and  its  relations  to  the  railroad  property  is,  that  Mr.  D.  H.  Bates,  a persist- 
ent adherent  to  the  theory  that  cheaper  rates  and  cheaper  leased  wires  are  remuner- 
ative, resigned  from  the  Western  Union  and  entered  the  service  of  Mr.  Garrett  in 
January,  1884,  as  president  of  the  telegraph  company,  continuing  in  that  position 
until  October  15,  1887.  In  a little  more  than  three  and  a half  years  he  built  up  the 
most  powerful  opposition  to  the  Western  Union  that  it  ever  had  or  is  likely  to  have, 
unless  the  Government  should  some  day  go  into  the  telegraph  business.  In  creating 
this  great  telegraphic  organization,  Mr.  Bates  disproved  the  accuracy  of  a statement 
made  by  Mr.  Gould,  which  would  have  made  most  men  hesitate,  and  which  Mr.  Gould 
no  doubt  believed  was  absolutely  true. 

The  last-named  gentleman  in  the  course  of  an  examination  before  .Judges  Sedg- 
wick and  Speir,  March  5,  1881,  in  connection  with  litigation  to  set  aside  the  famous 
consolidation,  was  asked  the  price  at  which  the  American  Union  Company’s  system 
could  be  reproduced,  and  he  instantly  replied,  “I  don’t  believe  it  could  be  repro- 
duced.” He  told  the  judges  it  could  not  be  reproduced  at  any  price,  “because  you 
could  not  get  control  of  the  railroads.  It  is  the  railroads  that  furnish  the  foundation 
of  the  plant.” 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


41 


Six  years  later  Mr.  Gould  purchased  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  telegraph  property  at 
a price  far  beyond  its  cost,  and  it  was  so  much  larger  than  the  American  Union  was 
that  comparisons  between  them  are  not  to  he  thought  of.  This  magnificent  plant 
had  grown  np  under  the  fostering  care  of  Mr.  Bates,  and  it  was  by  no  fault  of  his 
that  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Company  had  to  sell  it.  The  railroad  company,  by  its 
unwise  extension  to  Philadelphia,  created  a floating  debt  that  had  to  be  cleared  ofl: 
to  save  the  property  from  bankruptcy.  The  question  arose,  “ What  can  we  sell  ? 
and  it  being  found  that  the  ex])res8  business  and  the  telegraph  system  could  be  dis- 
pensed with,  they  were  quickly  sacrificed.  There  was  a crying  demand  for  ready 
money,  and  just  as  a merchant  who  is  trembling  on  the  brink  of  insolvency  parts 
with  his  horses,  his  plate,  his  government  bonds,  or  any  other  portable  property  upon 
which  he  can  raise  money,  so  these  express  and  telegraph  properties  passed  into  the 
possession  of  the  highest  bidders.  The  merchant’s  horses  may  have  been  good  ones: 
the  plate  may  have  been  admirable,  and  the  government  bonds  were  no  doubt  the 
safest  of  all  securities  ; but  none  of  them  were  bank  notes  and  they  had  to  go.  No 
one  is  more  familiar  with  the  facts  above  set  forth  than  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  who  yet 
has  the  audacity  to  ignore  the  record  and  repeat  before  a body  of  intelligent  men  the 
time-worn  fairy  tale  that  its  telegraph  system  brought  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Rail- 
road Company  to  the  verge  of  financial  disaster. 

Though  handicapped  by  the  then  prevailing  rebate  system,  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  Telegraph  Company,  even  at  the  low  rates  in  force  at  competitive  points  dur- 
ing the  rate  war  between  1884  and  1887,  was  not  a loser.  But  for  the  rebate  feature 
of  the  competition  the  company  would  have  made  a fair  profit.  Notwithstanding, 
Dr.  Green  would  have  us  believe  that  the  Western  Union  took  no  part  in  this  war- 
fare j it  is  undeniable  that  it  did  so,  though  in  its  own  peculiar  way.  In  1883  it  had 
acquired  the  Mutual  Union  Telqgraph  Company,  and  when  in  1884  the  Baltimore  and 
Ohio  and  the  Bankers  and  Merchants’  Telegraph  Companies  cut  the  rates,  the  West- 
ern Union  re-opened  “ Mutual  Union”  offices  at  all  competitive  points  and  in  scores 
of  places  where  the  Mutual  Union  had  not  been  established  when  its  brilliant  career 
was  checked  the  year  before  by  the  convenient  process  of  absorption.  By  asking  for 
a Mutual  Union  blank  at  Western  Union  offices  any  customer,  by  writing  his  message 
upon  it,  could  have  it  sent  to  any  point  where  there  was  competition  at  as  low  a rate 
as  anybody  else  was  offering.  Cheap  telegraphy  therefore  has  never  had  a fair  trial 
in  this  country,  for  telegraphing  can  not  be  said  to  be  cheap,  in  a broad  sense,  when 
the  conceding  of  ruinous  rebates  to  competitive  points  brings  the  net  revenue  on  a 
considerable  part  of  the  business  below  the  cost  of  handling  it,  thus  compelling 
high  prices  at  non-competitive  points  as  a measure  of  self-preservation. 

Kind,  unaffected,  just,  and  extremely  lovable  in  private  life,  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  Dr.  Green  should  ever  be  called  upon  to  play  such  fantastic  tricks  before  Con- 
gressional committees  as  make  the  angels  weep.  When  he  puts  on  the  mask  and 
struts  his  brief  hour  as  the  bland  defender  of  the  Western  Union  faith  the  character 
he  portrays  is  so  out  of  perspective  with  bis  natural  one,  that  only  those  who  know 
him  in  his  unofficial  capacity  can  believe  that  there  beats  a warm  and  generous  heart 
beneath  the  tinsel  robe. 

[New  Orleans  City  Item,  March  9.] 

The  proposition  which  has  just  been  revived  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker 
for  the  Government  to  take  charge  of  the  telegraph  lines,  or  at  least  establish  lines 
between  principal  cities  to  be  controlled  by  Government  officials,  has  awakened  the 
activities  of  the  Western  Union  and  its  numerous  agents  and  strikers.  Old  Dr.  Nor- 
vin Green,  who  is  the  ostensible  head  of  the  controlling  telegraph  line,  treated  the 
country  the  other  day  to  an  interview,  which  was  devoted  chiefly  to  solicitude  lest 
Government  should  fail  through  ignorance  and  inexperience  if  it  were  to  undertake 
to  manage  a great  telegraphic  system. 

, Dr.  Green  went  so  far  in  his  details  as  to  institute,  a comparison  between  the 
Western  Union  special-delivery  service,  good  for  one  mile  from  the  office,  with  the 
postal  carriers.  The  real  intent  was  so  ill-designed  that  the  papers  have  all  been 
making  fun  of  the  president  of  the  telegraph  company  ever  since.  Thus  the  Chicago 
Times : 

i O l)r  Green,  O Dr.  Green, 

It’s  a woful  tale  you  tell, 

Of  the  loss  and  all  that  which  you  have  been  at 
To  do  Uncle  Sam’s  work  well  ; 

But  if,  oh  if.  Dr.  Norvin  Green, 

So  very  much  you  rue  it, 

Why  don’t  you  keep  quiet,  let  Uncle  Sam  try  it, 

And  see  if  he  can  do  it. 

An  objection  has  sprung  up  from  an  anonymous  source  to  the  character  of  the 
capitalists  who  are  interested  in  postal  telegraph,  and  the  names  of  three  or  four  sup- 
posed to  be  peculiarly  obnoxious  are  published  in  the  Associated  Press  dispatches. 
Messrs.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  the  Bells  of  telephone  fame,  Thomas  Dolan,  the  Dob- 


42 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


son  Brothers,  H.  Disstoii,  Harrison  Brothers,  and  a lot  more  are  held  up  as  horrible 
examples  “ by  those  in  position  to  know.’’ 

The  Western  Union  people  may  as  well  understand  that  neither  the  difficulties  the 
Government  will  be  likely  to  encounter  nor,the  character  of  the  capitalists  who  are 
likely  to  get  the  job  of  erecting  poles  and  stretching  new  lines  will  be  the  con- 
trolling features  in  this  business.  There  are  a good  many  much  more  cogent  reasons 
than  these  why  the  Government  should  leave  the  telegraph  business  to  private  enter- 
prise, so  long  as  the  conduct  of  the  private  management  is  even  tolerable.  The 
Western  Union  Company  can  find  in  its  own  history  ample  reason  for  the  Govern- 
ment to  interpose  its  power  to  cheapen  the  means  of  transmitting  intelligence.  There 
has  been  improvement  and  progress  in  all  the  modern  inventions  of  the  age,  but  so  far 
the  public  has  not  been  able  to  realize  any  advantages  from  the  improvements  in 
telegraphing.  The  service  is  slow,  bungling,  and  very  expensive. 

Dr.  Green  speaks  about  the  actural  cost  of  the  service  of  sending  a ten -word  mes- 
sage, but  he  omits  to  say  that  he  is  running  a fifteen  million  plant  on  eighty  millions 
of  nominal  capital.  Were  all  the  money  actually  paid  in  for  which  the  Western 
Union  offices  are  expected  to  earn  dividends  it  would  be  sufficient  to  erect  and  equip 
five  such  companies.  The  talk  about  being  unable  to  compete  with  a Government 
that  has  a large  surplus  is  all  nonsense.  If  the  telegraph  service  is  made  satisfactory, 
there  will  soon  be  an  end  to  the  public  demand  that  the  Government  shall  try  it.  If 
it  is  not  the  trial  will  be  made,  and  it  will  prove  a success,  for  the  business 
methods  of  the  Government  are  of  the  highest  character.  The  decision  really  rests 
with  the  action  of  the  Western  Union,  not  in  what  Dr.  Green  may  say,  but  in  what 
his  subordinates  are  allowed  to  do. 

[Scranton  Truth,  March  10. [ 

Another  point  of  merit  that  attaches  to  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  administration  is  his 
persistent  effort  to  establish  a limited  postal  telegraph  line.  As  formulated,  the  bill 
to  be  presented  to  Congress  creates  a bureau,  under  the  control  of  a Fourth  Assistant 
Postmaster-General,  with  a salary  equal  to  that  of  the  other  Assistant  Postmasters-  . 
General.  This  officer  is  to  have  constructed  through  the  States  and  Territories  a 
trunk  line  of  postal  telegraph  to  reach  and  connect  all  cities  and  towns  that  now 
have  telegraphic  communication.  It  is  to  be  constructed  and  kept  in  repair  under  , 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War  through  the  Corps  of  Engineers.  The  Post- 
master-General is  authorized  to  employ  all  persons  necessary  to  conduct  the  business 
of  the  proposed  system.  The  rate  for  transmitting  messages  is  to  be,  for  500  miles  or 
less,  10  cents  for  twenty  words;  from  500  to  1,000  miles,  1 cent  a word  ; and  a corre- 
sponding increase  for  greater  distances.  Press  dispatches  are  to  be  taken  1,000  miles 
or  less  at  one- third  cent  per  word,  and  greater  distances  at  proportionate  rates.  All 
persons  are  to  have  the  right  to  the  use  of  the  telegraph  lines  for  the  purpose  of  cor- 
responding at  the  rates  fixed  by  the  Postmaster-General.  JSothiug  in  the  act  is  to  be  ^ 
construed  to  prohibit  individuals  or  corporations  from  carrying  on  the  business  of 
operating  telegraph  lines.  Eight  million  dollars  is  appropriated  for  the  purposes  of  , 
the  bill. 

The  bill  will  raise  much  discusssion,  and  will  incidentally  bring  up  the  proposition  ' 
to  buy  out  and  operate  the  present  telegraph  system  by  and  for  the  purposes  of  the 
Government. 

[Wilkes  Barre  Record,  March  10.1 

Mr.  Wauamaker  is  not  alone,  by  any  means,  in  his  efforts  to  promote  a postal  tele- 
graph system.  His  efforts  are  being  ably  seconded,  and  the  matter  is  now  before 
Congress  in  a more  direct  and  practical  fashion  than  ever  before.  It  seems  quite 
probable  that  some  plan  will  be  inaugurated  that  will  lead  to  the  erection  of  new 
lines  of  telegraph,  to  be  leased  to  the  Government  for  a time  and  eventually  purchased 
by  it,  or  else  for  handling  the  Government’s  business  at  coutiact  rates.  It  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  such  a system  will  be  inaugurated  without  fierce  opposition  from 
the  Western  Union,  the  most  gigantic  monopoly  known  to  history.  The  influence  of 
this  corporation  is  wide  spread  and  powerful,  but  it  may  be  fairly  hoped  that  the 
wishes  of  the  people  are  too  plainly  evident  and  imperative  to  be  disregarded  even 
at  the  commands  of  such  a corporation.  It  may  be  doubted  whether  a government 
system  would  materially  injure  the  interests  of  the  monopoly.  The  Government  tele- 
graph would  popularize  the  telegraph  to  a degree  not  yet  realized.  Now  not  one 
person  in  fifty  has  other  than  extremely  rare  occasion  to  use  the  wires.  The  rates  ; 
charged  are  practically  prohibitory  for  all  but  pressing  and  important  business.  Yet  , 
the  service  required  of  the  lines  now  in  use  is  quite  up  to  their  capacity.  This  makes  ' 
it  certain  that  the  institution  of  a postal  telegraph  service  will  cause  the  construe-  ^ 
tion  of  new  lines  of  far  greater  capacity  for  business.  Ten  years  from  the  time  such 
a service  is  instituted  it  will  be  a greater  necessity  than  the  telegraph  of  to-day  is  [ 
now  considered.  : 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


43 


[Liberty  (Ind.)  Herald,  March  10.] 

There  is  a howl  of  rage  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  holders  of  stocks  in  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  and  some  of  the  heavy  holders  of  Associated  Press  fran- 
chises, at  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  recommendation  that  the  Government 
should  establish  a telegraph  postal  system  for  its  own  and  the  people’s  use.  Such  a 
system  has  long  been  an  absolute  necessity,  but  the  millionaires  who  control  the  tele- 
graph monopoly  in  this  country  have  always  been  able  heretofore  to  defeat  all  efforts 
to  give  the  people  the  benefits  of  a cheap  telegraph  postal  system  by  means  and  meth- 
ods unnecessary  to  mention  in  an  intelligent  community.  If  the  present  Congresa 
has  any  respect  for  the  rights  ot  the  people,  and  for  itself,  it  will  enact  some  such 
measure. 

[Hew  Orleans  City  Item,  March  10,] 

There  is  a disposition  among  Congressmen  to  push  the  project  of  establishing 
postal  telegraph  lines  by  the  Government];to  a practical  result.  On  Thursday  Hon. 
Abner  Taylor,  representing  the  hrst  (Chicago)  Congressional  district  of  Illinois,  intro- 
duced into  the  House  a bill  to  provide  for  the  establishment  of  telegraph  lines  for  the 
use  of  the  Government  and  the  people,  to  be  operated  as  a part  of  the  postal  system. 
The  rates  proposed  in  the  bill  are  so  low  as  to  make  the  project  popular.  The  charges 
for  Government  and  private  messages  are  to  be  alike,  as  follows  : 

“All  telegrams  sent  over  a single  circuit  or  unbroken  line  of  telegraph  without  re- 
lay, and  requiring  but  one  operator  at  either  end,  without  regard  to  distance,  one 
cent  for  each  word  ; counting  the  address  or  signature,  but  not  the  date.  But  no 
telegraph  so  sent  shall  cost  less  than  fifteen  cents.  For  each  additional  circuit  or  re- 
lay requiring  an  additional  dispatcher  and  an  additional  receiver  an  additional  charge 
equal  to  the  charge  for  sending  the  same  message  over  one  circuit  without  relay  shall 
be  made.” 

The  cost  of  a complete  service  connecting  all  the  principal  post-offices  in  the  country, 
with  everything  new,  would  not  cost  more  than  $15,000,000  or  $20,000,000.  It  is 
likely,  however,  that  in  the  event  that  such  a powerful  competitor  as  the  Govern- 
ment should  appear  on  the  scene,  thus  lowering  the  rates  and  setting  the  pace  for  all 
the  other  companies,  some  of  the  weaker  ones  would  be  glad  to  sell  their  posts  and 
wires  cheaper  than  the  Government  could  erect  new'.  Room  could  be  found  in  a 
large  majority  of  the  post-offices  for  the  necessary  apparat  us,  and  one  or  more  opera- 
tors as  the  service  might  require,  thus  saving  a very  large  item  for  rent.  Dr.  Norvin 
Green  conceives  that  tbere  would  be  a good  deal  of  difficulty  in  establishing  a prompt 
delivery  service  in  large  cities.  He  evidently  limits  the  resources  of  the  Government 
to  the  ordinary  letter-carriers  who  now  perform  the  double  duty  of  collecting  from 
the  boxes  and  delivering  to  the  addressees.  There  is  already  a special  delivery  service 
attached  to  the  post-office  in  large  towns  and  cities  and  this  could  be  increased  in- 
definitely if  necessary.  There  are  no  insurmountable  objects  in  the  way,  and  it  is 
only  a question  of  policy  and  propriety  that  wdll  give  rise  to  the  more  serious  phases 
of  the  debates.  One  advantage  the  Government  will  always  have:  It  will  have  no 
stock,  hence  no  necessity  for  large  profits  to  be  spent  in  dividends.  The  people  would 
be  entirely  satisfied  if  the  system  should  barely  pay  working  expenses. 

[Altoona  Tribune,  March  10.] 

The  sturdy  manner  in  which  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  advocates  the  estab- 
lishment of  national  postal  telegraphy  explains  the  source  of  many  of  the  malignant 
attacks  upon  him.  Any  man  who  has  the  courage  to  propose  a measure  which  will 
benefit  the  people  at  the  expense  of  a giant  monopoly  may  be  sure  that  no  effort  will 
be  spared  to  defame  and  destroy  him.  But  we  hope  Mr.  Wanamaker  will  persevere 
until  success  crowns  his  efforts.  Then  let  him  go  a step  farther  and  plan  a national 
express  system  by  means  of  w'hich  the  public  may  be  served  at  reasonable  rates.  He 
may  be  sure  of  the  support  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  his  effort  to  clip  the 
claws  of  corporations  that  mercilessly  prey  upon  their  customers. 

[Pittsburgh  Times,  March  11.] 

Bills  providing  for  telegraphing  for  the  Government  over  its  own  lines,  have  for 
years  past  been  introduced  in  Congress,. but  not  under  circumstances  as  favorable  as 
attended  the  introduction  of  the  one  last  week.  That  bill  may  meet  the  fate  of  its 
predecessors,  but  taking  all  the  circumstances  together,  even  that  would  be  auspi- 
cious. What  is  to  be  specially  noted  is  that  the  general  understanding  of  the  subject 
has  undergone  a marked  improvement,  and  in  every  respect  the  question  has  jiro- 
gressed  in  public  favor.  But  for  the  opposition  of  the  Western  Union  Company  to 
the  Postal  Telegraph  there  w'ould  be  very  little  serious  opposition.  That  opposition  is 
perfectly  natural.  It  is  wholly  selfish,  as  the  action  of  monopolies  generally  is  when- 


44 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


ever  competition  is  proposed.  Monopolies  exist  and  are  managed  for  the  benefits  that 

“nS^Mr  S'”"  -f--- *0 

fectlycondstentcourse.  The VVeste™  at 

interest.  As  to  that  the  Postmaster-General  will  reach  the  source  of  lio-pt  when  he 
penetrates  to  the  combinations  that  go  far  to  explain  Mr.  Gould’s  power."’ 

[New  York  Standard,  March  12.] 

what  will  come  of  these  (postal  telegraph]  bills  T hive 
seen  Mr.  Wade  and  air.  Taylor  and  both  are  uncertain  as  to  how  many  adherents 
their  measures  would  find  were  they  to  be  reported  to  the  House  They  both  seem 
confadent,  however  that  some  kind  of  a bill  will  be  passed  this  session.  ^The  Hous^ 
.ommittee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  is  holding  hearings  every  Tuesday  and 

ma'wifilf  whtrh^n^tf  f n®  which,  however,  have  special  reference  to  the  Wana- 

maker  bill,  Tvhich  authorizes  the  Postmaster  General  to  “ enter  into  a contract  with 
responsible  parties  to  connect  a certain  number  of  post-offices  with  each  oth\r  for 
purposes  by  leased  wires  and  instruments,  to  be  operated  bv  post-office 
employes,  to  carry  messages  xor  the  Government  and  for  the^people.”  ‘ Of  all  the 
testimony  presented  perhaps  the  most  interesting  was  that  given  liy  Hr  Norvin 
fees^wL^ about' to  1?'"“  Union  T.degraph  Company,  tfis  appre^Sision'that 
monmioTv  wlLb^h  ^ a^l-powerful  competitor  and  thus  destroy  the 

ka  1 ^ which  his  company  enjoys  was  apparent  from  the  weak  and  silly  obiections 
iZ  n!  bill.  He  raised  the  points  of  inexperiencerunrelffibi^^^^^^^ 

tbt  expense,  all  of  which  are  met,  without  looking  furth  ir  m 

the  economy  and  efficiency  of  the  post-office  system.  Mr.  D.  H.  Bates  of  New  York 
said  he  represented  a company  of  responsible  gentlemen  who  were  prepared  to  build 
and  maintain  telegraph  lines  proposed  in  the  Wanamaker  bill,  p^ovfded  the  rates 
were  increased  so  as  to  admit  of  reasonable  profit  to  the  company. 
c+o+I?  fi^-  would  on  the  face  of  it  be  exceedingly  bad,  for,  as  Mr.  Bates 

service  would  expect  to  do  a large  business  outside  of  the  public  postal 

fori^^^PT.^1^  f^i  Government  contract  to  sustain  it,  it  could  enter  the  field 

Mr  rS  B^esm^n  Crushed  out  all  competition. 

In  hi?  nrkw!  K ? legislative  committee  of  the  Knighrs  of  Labor, 

tbiV  +kf  P before  the  committee  made  the  all-sufficient  answer  to  this  in  declaring 
wbn^p^+  able  to  purchase,  maintain,  and  operate  the 

P^ut  without  furnishing  business  opportunities  for  anybody  else. 
Representative  Hopkins,  of  Illinois,  a member  of  the  Post-Office  Committee  savs 
'^tComf  modifi'^®  the  committee  will  present  to  the  House  the  Wanamaker  bill 

imi7b  ^ unable  to  say  when  the  report  would  be  made,  as 

much  work  is  yet  before  the  committee.  He  said  he  personally  favored  the  Wana- 
maker bill  as  It  subjected  the  Government  to  small  expense  and  no  risk  to  try  the 
postal  telegraph  and  he  made  special  reference  to  the  point  that  the 
Postmaster-General’s  plan  would  apply  at  first  to  only  four  hundred  cities.  The  ne- 
cessity for  an  experimental  stage  was  said  to  be  necessary  before  we  could  have  bal- 
nf  necessary  to  look  across  the  sea  at  England  to  learn 

® likewise  the  timid  ones  now  have  only  to  turn  their 

eyes  toward  the  British  islands  to  see  a practical  demonstration  of  the  efficiency  and 
economy  of  the  postal  telegraph  system,  owned  and  operated  by  the  Government. 

[Bessemer  (Ala.)  Journal,  March  13.] 

Representative  Taylor,  of  Illinois,  has  introduced  a bill  looking  toward  the  estab- 
lishment ot  a system  of  telegraph  lines  under  the  control  of  the  United  States  Gov- 
6rillD6Ilt* 

The  bill  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a system  of  Government  telegraphs  for 
the  use  ot  the  Government  and  the  people,  and  to  be  operated  as  part  of  the  postal 
system.  It  provides  that  a board,  consisting  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  Secretary  of 
War,  and  Postmaster-General,  shall  cause  to  be  built  or  shall  buy  the  lines  of  tele- 
graph wherein  its  opinion  such  are  needful.  It  shall  be  the  purpose  of  the  Govern- 
ment that  these  telegraphs  shall  yield  no  earnings  beyond  the  cost  of  operatino-  the 
same,  and  at  all  times  keep  the  outgo  and  income  as  nearly  equal  as  may  be.  t7 this 
end  the  Postmaster-General  shall  name  such  rates  at  which  messages  may  be  sent  as 
sliall  keep  the  total  earnings  and  expenses  as  nearly  equal  as  may  be  or  as  shall  make 
the  lines  sell-sustaining.  And  the  Postmaster-General  shall  from  time  to  time  so 
change  the  rates  that  they  shall  conform  to  this  requirement.  Pending  the  acquire- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  45 

ment  of  sufficient  information  to  carry  out  the  last  described  provision  of  the  law 
a rate  of  1 cent  a word  for  distances  under  500  miles  is  provided" 

Several  attempts  have  been  made  in  the  past  to  establish  a postal  telegraph,  but 
the  opposition  of  the  established  companies  has  always  been  too  great.  When  a huge 
corporation  like  the  Western  Union,  with  millions  of  watered  stock,  pays  large  divi- 
dends to  its  stockholders,  it  seems  very  evident  that  there  is  a chance  to  save  im- 
mense sums  to  the  patrons  of  the  telegraph— who  are  of  every  class  and  station— by 
Governmental  control.  Other  countries  operate  their  telegraphs  in  connection  with 
their  postal  service,  and  the  combination  seems  to  be  satisfactory  to  both  employes 
and  patrons. 

[Dashore  (Pa.)  Review,  March  13.] 

Mr.  Wanamaker  is  not  alone,  by  any  means,  in  his  efforts  to  promote  a postal  tele- 
graph system.  His  efforts  are  being  ably  seconded,  and  the  matter  is  now  before 
Congress  in  a more  direct  and  practical  fashion  than  ever  before.  It  seems  quite 
probable  that  some  plan  will  be  inaugurated  that  will  lead  to  the  erection  of  new 
ines  of  telegraph,  to  be  leased  to  the  Government  for  a time  and  eventually  pur- 
chased by  it,  or  else  for  handling  the  Government’s  business  at  contract  rates. 

[Muncy  (Pa.)  Luminary,  March  14.] 

Postal  telegraphy  has  taken  up  a good  deal  of  the  time  of  the  Congressional  Com- 
mittees on  Post-Offices  of  late,  and  everybody  that  has  been  heard,  except  the  repre- 
senatives  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  favor  the  idea  of  a postal  tele- 
graph system,  some  of  them  supporting  the  Postmaster-Generars  bill,  which  provides 
lor  leasing  wires,  and  others  Representative  Wade’s  bill,  which  provides  for  the  Gov- 
crnment’s^.erecting  the  wires.  It  seems  pretty  certain  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant 
when  a postal  telegraph  system  will  be  in  operation  in  this  country. 

[Denver  Republican,  March  14.] 

The  explanation  which  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  gives  of  his  postal  tele- 
graph scheme  is  very  clear.  It  carries  the  conviction  that  the  project  is  practicable 
ind  that  it  would  result  in  great  good  to  the  public. 

His  proposition  is  to  establish  postal -telegraph  facilities  between  all  the  letter- 
carrier  post-offices,  the  number  of  which  is  about  460.  The  letter-carriers  would  be 
employed  to  deliver  postal  telegrams  just  as  they  now  do  letters.  The  telegrams 
would  be  taken  out  with  the  letters  along  their  routes  and  would  be  delivered  m the 
?ame  way.  If  anyone  wished  a telegram  to  be  delivered  immediately,  he  could  pro- 
vide for  that  by  using  a special-delivery  stamp.  Mr.  WanamaKer  thinks  that  the 
iddition  of  postal-telegraph  facilities  to  the  p<*st-office  work  would  require  the  em- 
iloymeut  of  very  few  additional  clerks.  One  clerk  in  each  postal-telegraph  or  letter- 
carrier  office  would  have  to  understand  telegraphy ; but  it  is  not  believed  that  his 
ime  would  be  so  fully  occupied  by  his  telegraphic  duties  that  he  would  be  unable  to 
I’ender  any  other  service.  An  exception  to  this  would  have  to  be  made  of  the  larae 
cities.  ® 

The  proposed  union  of  the  postal  and  telegraph  service  could  be  made  without  any 
mproper  interference  with  existing  rights.  If  the  bill  favored  by  Mr.  Wanamaker 
hould  become  a law,  the  Postmaster-General  would  be  given  authority  to  negotiate 
ibr  and  secure  a set  of  leased  wires,  such  as  some  of  the  daily  newspapers  have  be- 
ween  large  cities.  The  companies  owning  these  wires  would  be  paid  the  amount 
called  for  in  their  leases,  and  of  course  this  amount  would  be  sufficient  to  compensate 
hem  for  the  use  of  the  wires.  After  the  wires  were  secured  the  postal  telegraph 
business  could  be  entered  upon  with  practically  no  difficulty.  Each  letter-carrier 
i)ost-office  would  then  be  made  a postal-telegraph  office,  and  stamps  would  be  sold 
[or  the  transmission  of  telegrams.  Persons  desiring  to  communicate  with  places  at 
Ivhich  there  would  be  no  postal-telegraph  office  could,  by  purchasing  a letter  stamp, 
|iave  the  telegram  mailed  at  the  postal-telegraph  station  nearest  to  the  destination 
ff  the  telegram.  It  is  readily  seen  that  the  existing  machinerv  of  the  Post-Office 
lepartment  would,  with  a very  small  addition  of  clerical  help,  suffice  to  handle  the 
)Ostal-telegraph  business. 

It  is  proposed  that  the  charges  for  postal  telegrams  confined  to  the  limits  of  any 
•ne  State  should  not  be  more  than  10  cents  for  messages  of  twenty  words  or  less, 
ountiug  address  and  signature,  nor  over  ‘25  cents  for  any  distance  under  1,500  miles’, 
lor  over  50  cents  for  any  greater  distance.  Twenty  words  would  about  cover,  with 
ddress  and  signature,  a message  proper  of  ten  words.  It  would  probably  be  better 
o send  the  address  and  signature  free  and  reduce  the  length  of  the  message  to  ten 
7ords.  This  would  avoid  the  temptation  to  cut  down  an  address  and  thereby  make 


46 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


it  indefinite.  The  proposed  rates  would  bring  the  telegraph  service  within  the  reach 
of  a vast  number  of  people  who  now  seldom  use  it,  owing  to  the  great  expense. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  expresses  the  belief  that  the  telegraph  companies  would  in  the 
main  hold  their  present  business.  If  so,  they  would  be  subjected  to  little  loss  on  ac- 
count of  the  introduction  of  postal  telegraphy.  Plis  postal  telegraph  scheme  contem- 
plates the  development  of  a new  business.  If  he  is  right,  people  would  be  induced  to 
employ  the  telegraph  service  who  now  do  not  employ  it  at  all,  or  atleast  very  seldom. 
There  would  be  no  financial  guaranty  in  respect  to  the  safe  delivery  of  postal  tele- 
grams, and  so  with  respect  to  business  in  which  a guaranty  would  be  desirable  the 
old  companies  would  continue  to  do  the  work.  Mr.  Wanamaker  also  calls  attention 
to  the  fact  that  postal  telegrams  would  not  be  delivered  as  promptly  as  ordinary  tele- 
grams unless  charges  for  special  delivery  were  paid.  He  thinks  this  would  tend  to 
protect  the  business  of  the  old  companies.  As  for  all  of  this,  we  are  inclined  to  think 
that  the  Postmaster-General  may  be  mistaken.  The  old  companies  would  probably 
lose  a great  deal  of  business  if  they  retained  their  present  rates.  But  they  could  pro- 
tect themselves  in  a measure  against  this  by  making  a heavy  charge  for’  the  use  of 
their  wires.  Furthermore,  they  could  very  well  afford  to  cut  down  their  charges  for 
telegraph  service;  and  if  they  were  to  do  this  to  anything  like  the  figure  proposed  by 
the  Postmaster-General,  they  would  retain  a very  great  deal  of  their  present  business. 

There  ought  to  be  some  such  union  of  the  postal  and  telegraph  services,  for  they 
are  of  the  same  character.  Each  is  the  transmission  of  information  or  intelligence. 
The  Government  possesses  a monopoly  of  this  service  when  performed  through  the 
medium  of  the  mails,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  have  the  same  monop- 
oly with  respect  to  service  performed  by  means  of  the  telegraph. 

[St.  Paul  News,  Mach  14.] 

The  windy  argument  of  Dr.  Green,  Jay  Gould’s  figure-head  as  President  of  the  tele  - 
graph  monopoly,  before  the  committee  considering  the  postal  telegraph,  was  more 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  out  of  sight  the  real  point  of  attack  upon  that  proposition 
than  for  any  other  effect.  It  transpires  that  the  Frye  funding  bill,  if  passed,  will  de-  ■ 
feat  the  postal  telegraph  scheme.  This  bill  contemplates  the  extension  of  the  Union 
Pacific  debt  to  the  Government,  and  at  the  same  time  provides  for  the  removal  of  all  ‘ 
Government  control  of  the  Union  Pacific.  That  would  permit  the  Western  Union  to  ' 
retain  its  monopoly  of  all  the  Union  Pacific’s  wires,  without  any  hindrance  whatever 
because  it  would  be  a practical,  if  not  absolute,  relinquishment  of  all  clajims  against  ’ 
the  railroad  for  the  public  interest.  It  became  apj)arent  to  the  Postmaster-General  ^ 
that  section  3 of  the  bill,  at  least,  would  have  to  be  beaten,  and  stormy  scenes  in  the  ■ 
Senate  Committee  on  the  Pacific  Railroads  have  been  the  result.  As"  Gould  practi- 
cally controls  the  board  of  directors  of  the  road,  it  will  be  impossible  to  make  the  rail-  : 
road  company  accept  any  bill  that  does  not  contain  this  provision.  In  the  struggle 
it  is  possible  that  both  propositions  may  fail.  : 

[St.  Paul  Dispatch,  March  15.]  / 

The  latest  development  of  the  universal  public  demand  for  a Government  telegraph  i 
system  is  in  tlie  direction  ot  a proposition  just  laid  before  the  House  Committee  of 
Congress  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post  Roads.  The  proposition  comes  from  one  J.  M. 
Seymour,  who  claims  to  represent  a number  of  largo  capitalists  who  were  willing  to  ' 
build  lines  and  maintain  a postal  telegraph  system  under  Government  supervision  in  ' 
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  bill,  or  to  operate  on  a uniform 
2,5-cent  rate. 

Underlying  the  offer  is  the  invention  of  a multiplex  telegraphing  system  which,  it 
is  claimed,  will  dispense  with  at  least  six  out  of  every  seven  wires  now  in  use.  The 
projectors  of  the  new  plan  propose  to  build  and  maintain  lines  need  1 to  H i h 
operators,  power  and  stationery,  and  to  have  the  right  lo  build  and  be  piotcwlcd  in 
constructing  lines  over  all  post-roads.  They  ask  to  be  exempt  from  Federal  and  State 
taxation.  In  cities  where  the  post-offices  were  cramped  for  want  oi  room,  the  syndi- 
cate propose  to  furnish  its  own  offices.  It  was  desired  to  inake  a contract  with  the 
Government  for  fifteen  years  with  the  privilege  of  a renewal,  unless  the  Government 
would  take  the  lines  at  the  end  of  that  time  at  a valuation  to  be  appraised  bv  ex- 
perts. 

It  is  too  early  to  undertake  to  pass  an  intelligent  judgment  on  this  plan.  But  as 
it  presents  itself  to  view  at  the  present  moment  it  appears  to  offer  a solution  of  the  ' 
chief  difficulties  attending  the  recovery  by  the  people  of  their  right  to  the  owner- 
ship and  use  of  the  telegraph  system.  The  people  are  determined  to  conduct  their 
own  telegraph  system,  whether  by  the  purchase  of  the  existing  plant  or  by  the  in- 
stitution of  a new  telegraph  system.  To  undertake  to  purchase  Gould’s  telegraph  . 
system,  except  in  plain  view  of  the  people’s  ability  to  estfiblish  and  maintain  their  ' 
own  system,  if  need  be,  would  in  all  likelihood  result  in  the  Government  being  bilked.  ! 


i 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


47 


According  to  Gould’s  chief  representative,  Dr.  Green,  the  Western  Union  is  being 
maintained  chiefly  for  the  benefit  of  stock  speculators  and  wealthy  merchants.  It 
is  not  unlikely  that  the  Government  can  afford  to  leave  Mr.  Gould  and  Mr.  Green 
and  their  1, *200  female  stockholders  in  possession  of  that  particular  line  of  service. 
A Government  telegraph  to  be  of  any  substaniial  value  must  be  one  to  which  the 
people  all  over  the  country  can  have  easy  and  cheap  access  for  all  purposes  of  inter- 
communication. It  should  result  in  effectually  supplanting  the  present  now  com- 
pjiratively  slow  method  of  correspondence  carried  on  through  medium  of  the  mails, 
when  greater  urgency  is  demanded,  without  subjecting  the  people  to  a conscience- 
less toll,  imposed  on  the  single  principle  of  charging  ‘ all  the  traffic  will  bear.” 

At  the  present  moment  the  telegraph  system  of  the  country  is  in  the  hands  of  an 
odious  monopoly,  at  the  head  of  which  is  the  one  man  who  best  typifies  all  that  is 
vilest  and  most  dangerous  in  the  present  industrial  organization  of  society.  It  is 
utierly  free  from  public  intervention,  and  notwithstanding  that  it  is  a prime  agency 
of  interstate  commerce  there  is  no  effort  whatever  made  to  regulate  its  charges. 
Through  its  maintenance  railroad  companies  are  enabled  to  maintain  their  own  tele- 
graph systems,  to  which  the  public  are  denied  access.  No  person  who  does  not  pat- 
ronize the  telegraph  freely  knows  anything  about  rates  or  tariffs,  except  as  the  ac- 
commodating lady  or  gentleman  behind  the  counter  chooses  to  tell  him.  It  is  a private 
monopoly  ; its  business  is  carried  on  essentially  as  a private  business,  and  its  methods 
are  those  which  distinguish  and  are  incident  to  the  maintenance  of  monopoly. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  effective  intervention  of  public  authority.  Whether 
through  this  Seymour  scheme  or  through  that  suggested  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  the 
pi  esent  Congress  is  expected  to  afford  the  people  relief.  The  point  has  been  reached 
now  when  no  mere  system  of  Government  regulation  of  telegraphs  will  serve  the 
purpose.  Indeed,  nothing  short  of  adequate  provision  in  the  direction  of  the  resto- 
ration of  the  telegraph  to  the  Government,  which  foolishly  surrendered  it  years  ago 
into  private  control,  will  fulfill  the  requirements  of  the  occasion. 

[Evening  Capital  Journal,  Salem,  Oregon,  March  15.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  followed  in  the  footsteps  of  his  predecessors  in 
advocating  a postal  telegraph,  or  rather  a post-office  telegraph  office,  a plan  to  put 
the  telegraph  into  every  post-office  in  the  land,  and  by  an  efficient  service  bring  the 
telegraph  within  reach  of  millions  who  do  not  now  get  its  benefits,  and  also  to  force 
the  existing  telegraph  companies  to  give  the  people  a better  service  and  at  a lower 
rate,  or  go  out  of  business. 

And  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  means  business.  He  is  evidently  in  earnest. 
He  is  pushing  the  matter.  Already  private  capital  offers  for  |525, 000,000  to  equip  a 
system  covering  the  whole  continent.  The  people  of  the  effete  monarchies  have  long 
enjoyed  privileges  in  the  matter  of  cheap  and  popular  telegraphy  that  the  people  of 
the  United  States  have  been  deprived  of. 

Of  course,  the  present  telegraph  monopoly  will  cry  out  and  oppose  any  measure 
that  threatens  to  interfere  with  its  collecting  millions  on  watered  stock  and  taxing 
the  people  for  an  inferior  service  for  all  the  traffic  will  bear.  That  is  to  be  expected. 
But  the  people  are  wide-awake  on  these  matters,  to  what  they  used  to  be.  They  are 
not  sending  so  many  men  into  the  legislature  and  to  Congress  to  vote  as  they  please, 
or  as  some  great  corporation  pleases,  and  contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  masses. 

The  Journal  is  heartily  and  wholly  on  the  side  of  the  people  and  for  a postal  tele- 
graph. This  invention  belongs  to  the  masses.  It  has  long  enough  been  a monopoly 
for  the  benefit  of  speculators  and  privileged  classes. 

[Chicago  Mail,  March  15.] 

A New  York  stock-broker  has  offered  in  the  name  of  a syndicate  which  he  repre- 
sents to  build  and  maintain  a postal  telegraph  system  under  governmental  supervis- 
j:)T\  Tf  to  be  presumed  that  the  gentlemen  of  the  syndicate  see  a clear  way  to 
II -’’  ing  money  out  of  the  venture,  else  they  would  not  put  their  millions  into  it ; 
tlirr  n il}' shouldn’t  the  Government  build  and  maintain  the  system  itself  ? It  can 
command  the  same  talent  that  private  capital  has  at  its  back  and  its  enterprise 
would  be  vastly  more  popular.  A portion  of  the  treasury  surplus  might  be  expended 
to  great  advantage  in  this  way. 

[Manufacturers’  Record,  Baltimore,  March  15.] 

What  can  be  done  to  improve  the  telegraphic  service  in  the  South  is  one  of  those 
conundrums  no  person  can  answer  outside  of  those  magnets  of  the  Western  Union, 
who  exercise  unlimited  control  of  the  wires  that  criss-cross  each  other  on  the  several 
southern  circuits.  It  is  high  time  for  a change  for  the  better. 


48 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


At  present  the  worst  telegraphic  service  in  tbe  United  States  is  in  the  country  south 
of  the  Potomac  and  Ohio  rivers.  We  say  this  feelingly,  because  the  Manufacturers- 
Record  has  suffered  much  and  many  times  from  the  carelessness  and  negligence  of  the 
telegraph  companies  that  control  the  transmission  of  news  north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mex- 
ico, and  because  our  own  experience  is  confirmatory  of  the  almost  daily  complaints 
that  come  to  us  from  others.  It  has  become  a fixed  custom  with  many  Southerners 
who  once  used  the  telegraph  to  send  important  messages  in  an  expedited  letter,  be- 
cause the  probability  of  immediate  delivery  is  greater  by  that  mode  of  conveyance 
than  by  the  wires. 

There  are  two  well-founded  causes  of  complaint  : First,  slowness  of  transmission  and 
delivery ; second,  a lack  of  secrecy  at  many  Southern  delivery  offices. 

The  delays  mentioned  in  complaint  number  one  are  due  solely  to  parsimonious 
management.  Outside  of  the  larger  Southern  cities,  the  offices  of  the  Western  Union 
are  at  railroad  stations,  and  the  station  master,  or  some  clerk  in  his  employ,  is  the 
telegrapher.  The  master  and  his  clerk  are  railroad  employes.  Their  first  duty  is  to 
the  company  that  pays  them.  They  owe  none  to  the  general  public.  What  they  do 
for  it  is  secondary.  As  a rule  they  are  obliging  young  men,  but  very  overworked. 
They  have,  in  addition  to  the  ordinary  duties  of  ticket-sellers  and  freight  handlers, 
to  attend  to  a multitude  of  railroad  details  that  keep  them  on  the  alert  for  many  long 
hours.  Should  they  fail  in  attending  to  their  railroad  duties,  they  would  be  discharged 
as  incompetent,  and  they  know  it.  The  telegraph  business,  except  as  a side  i8Sue,so  far 
as  the  public  service  is  concerned,  is  of  no  consequence  to  them.  They  must  look  out 
for  their  bread  and  butter,  and  who  can  blame  them  ? But  the  service  itself,  because 
of  these  conditions,  is  all  awry.  Let  us  give  an  incident  that  is  by  no  means  unusual. 

A correspondent  of  a Baltimore  merchant  goes  to  a railroad  station  (let  us  say  in 
South  Carolina),  with  a dispatch  of  the  utmost  importance.  Upon  its  immediate 
transmission  depend  many  hundred  dollars.  He  finds  no  one  in  the  office,  but  there 
are  three  trains  on  the  main  track  and  sidings,  and  every  office  employ^  is  up  to  his  ■ 
eyes  in  business  that  requires  all  his  attention.  The  station-master  is  found,  and 
the  emergency  stated.  He  replies:  ‘‘ I will  go  to  the  office  and  take  your  message, 
but  I can  not  tell  how  soon  we  can  forward  it,  for  the  wires  are  loaded  down  with 
railroad  business,  and  that  has  the  right  of  way.  But  I will  get  this  off  at  the  ear- 
liest moment.” 

The  above  is  not  a fanciful  sketch,  but  au  actual  reproduction  of  what  has  occurred 
at  more  than  one  railroad  station.  And  who  are  the  losers?  Not  the  railroads  ; not 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  It  is  the  business  community  that  suffers.  ' 
For  this  there  is  but  one  remedy.  The  business  of  telegraphing  for  the  public  must 
be  divorced  from  the  railroads.  For  their  own  safety,  and  for  convenience  of  traffic, 
railroads  must  run  their  own  lines  ; but  all  that  are  to  be  of  public  use  must  be  out- 
side of  and  independent  of  them.  The  two  can  not  be  conjoined  without  injury  to 
the  one  or  the  other.  Such,  at  least,  is  the  existing  condition  at  the  South. 

And  now  for  complaint  number  two.  It  is  generally  supposed  that  every  telegraph 
operator  and  transcriber  is  sworn  to  secrecy;  thatevery  message  that  passes  over  the 
wires  is  private  property,  belonging  only  to  the  sender  and  the  legitimate  receiver, 
and  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  office  operator  to  see  that  the  message  is  delivered  into 
the  hands  of  the  person  to  whom  it  is  sent,  or  to  some  duly  accredited  representative 
of  that  person.  As  a matter  of  fact,  that  rule  has  little  observance  in  the  South.  In 
many  places  messages  are  delivered,  not  in  sealed  envelopes,  but  on  the  usual  blanks  : 
and  if  the  messenger  boy  can  not  find  the  party  of  the  first  part,  it  is  no  uncommon 
thing  for  him  to  give  the  open  message  to  some  person  whom,  he  infers,  is  that  party’s- 
friend. 

Nor  is  that  the  worst  of  this  careless  (that  is  a mild  word)  way  of  doing  telegraph 
business.  There  is  a free  and  easy  style  prevailing  at  many  places  which  makes  the 
telegraph  offices  leak-holes  through  which  run  into  the  community  the  contents  of  pri- 
vate messages,  and  the  publicity  given  to  information  that  should  have  been  given 
only  to  its  owner  has  often  defeated  public  justice,  or  has  put  a sudden  end  to  impor- 
tant business  negotiations.  So  serious  a matter  has  this  leakage  of  private  dispatches 
become,  that  business  men  have  been  compelled,  for  their  own  protection,  to  devise 
systems  of  cyphers  for  telegraphic  messages  between  themselves  and  their  correspond- 
ents, to  secure  that  secrecy  of  commuuicatiou  which  formerly  obtaiued,  but  which 
is  no  longer  observed  in  many  of  the  Southern  telegraphic  offices. 

The  Manufacturers’  Record  has  for  many  months  refrained  from  criticising  the 
telegraph  service,  hoping  that  as  the  evils  were  so  evident  the  management  would  re- 
move them.  But  they  (the  evils)  grow  worse  aud  worse,  and  the  time  has  come  when 
further  forbearance  would  be  a crime  to  the  South,  and  to  all  industries  aud  business 
enterprises  connected  therewith.  The  right  of  Congress  to  regulate  interstate  com- 
nierce  is  now  generally  conceded.  The  telegraphic  system  is  the  handmaid  of  inter-  * 
state  commerce,  and  if  it  is  true  that  Congress  can  constitutionally  regulate  the  first, 
it  can  care  for  the  other  also.  Some  power  emanating  from  the  people  must  and  will  i 
do  it,  for  the  need  exists  and  is  pressing.  j 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


49 


[Detroit  Sirn,  March  16.] 

The  postal  telegraph  scheme  should  not  be  wrecked  upon  the  evidence  that  comes 
from  the  office  of  the  Western  Union.  There  they  have  every  reason  to  overstate  the 
cost  to  them  of  the  messages  they  send.  A concern  which,  with  an  antiquated  plant, 
can  pay  heavy  dividends  on  an  enormously  inflated  capital,  is  not  likely  to  tell  the 
truth  about  its  expenses.  When  it  is  stated  that  the  entire  mileage  and  machinery 
of  the  Western  Union  can  be  duplicated  to-day  and  give  a vastly  quicker  service  for 
one-lifth  of  the  Western  Union’s  capital  stock,  enough  is  said.  Our  telegraph  busi- 
ness, for  all  it  is  so  large,  is  only  in  its  infancy,  and  it  should  be  as  much  a matter  for 
Government  service  as  the  post-office.  It  is  for  the  good  of  the  people  that  a cheap 
Government  service  should  take  the  place  of  a costly  monoj)oly. 

[Columbus  Journal,  March  1.1 

The  Richmond  (Va.)  Dispatch  does  not  agree  with  some  otlier  great  Democratic 
organs  as  to  the  constitutionality  and  expediency  of  Postmaster-General  Wanama- 
ker’s  postal  telegraph  bill.  The  Dispatch  regards  the  bill  as  both  constitutional  and 
expedient,  and  says  that  Mr.  Carsey  of  New  York,  who,  assuming  to  represent  the 
workingmen,  made  an  argument  against  the  bill  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post- 
Offices  and  Post-Roads,  is  wholly  mistaken.  It  says,  among  other  things:  “The 
Constitution  empowers  Congress  to  establish  post  offices  and  post-roads.  What  sort  ? 
None  but  common  country  roads  could  have  been  in  the  minds  of  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution;  but  that  fact  has  not  prevented  the  Government  from  using  railroads 
and  steam-boats,  in  like  manner  the  paths  of  tlie  lightning  must  be  used  as  Govern- 
ment roads.  ^ * It  is  because  the  working  people  have  been  unable  to  employ 

the  telegraph  that  the  Government  should  open  it  to  them.  Reduce  the  rate  to  10 
cents  for  ten  words  for  all  distances,  and  the  telegraph  will  receive  as  many  messages 
as  it  can  carry  from  the  working  people.  Nobody  need  fear  a paternal  government 
of  that  sort.”  It  will  be  remembered  that  within  the  lyst  two  years  a large  number 
of  labor  organizations  have  memorialized  Congress  to  take  possession  of  all  the  tele- 
graph lines  and  operate  them  as  a part  of  the  postal  system. 

[Manufacturer  (Pbila.),  March  17.] 

That  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Companj^  should  strongly  op- 
pose the  postal  telegraph  project  suggested  by  Mr.  Wanaraaker  was  of  course  in- 
evitable..^ In  his  address  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  he  expressed  the 
opinion  that  this  scheme  is  but  the  beginning  of  a movement  for  putting  the  telegraph 
business  of  the  country  under  the  control  of  the  Federal  Government ; and  this  is  a cor- 
rect estimate  of  its  meaning.  Nothing  is  more  nearly  certain  than  that  if  the  Govern- 
ment goes  into  this  business  in  small  measure  it  will  be  compelled  to  undertake  it  in 
large  measure.  The  people  who  are  denied  the  Government  telegraph,  under  Mr. 
Wanamaker’s  plan,  will  not  be  contented  with  permanent  exchrsion  from  advantages 
possessed  by  their  fellow-citizens  with  rights  not  superior  to  their  own.  The  Gov- 
ernment can  not  conduct  such  an  enterprise  successfully  or  profitably  unless  it  shall 
have  a monopoly,  as  it  has  in  the  matter  of  mail  transportation.  Public  sentiment 
I recognizes  the  fact  that  carrying  messages  by  mail  and  carrying  them  by  wire  are 
services  of  essentially  the  same  nature,  and  that  the  good  policy  that  intrusts  the 
task  to  the  Government  in  one  case,  may  warrant  giving  it  to  the  Government  in  the 
other  case.  Besides,  the  people' are  much  impressed  with  the  perils  of  having  in  the 
i hands  of  a single  private  company  (aud  that  companj^  controlled  by  one  man),  a 
I business  which  touches  the  press,  the  public,  and  private  life,  and  the  commercial 
I operations  of  the  nation  at  almost  every  point.  The  timidity  with  which  the  public 
journals  refer  to  this  very  matter  is,  of  itself,  full  of  suggestiveness.  When  the  Gov- 
j ernmeut  shall  undertake  to  manage  the  telegraph,  it  might  with  propriety  negotiate 
for  the  purchase  of  existing  lines;  but  tuch  purchase  should  be  made  upon  a basis  of 
actual  value,  not  of  stock  that  has  been  watered  and  rewatered. 

i [Omaha  Democrat,  March  17.] 

The  proposition  made  a few  days  since  to  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and 
Post-Roads  by  J.  M.  Seymour,  of  New  York,  is  a very  important  one.  He  claimed  to 
represent  a number  of  well-known  capitalists  who  were  amply  prepared  to  build  and 
maintain  a postal  system,  such  as  the  Postmaster-General  has  recommended,  at  a uni- 
form rate  for  messages  of  25  cents.  This  they  propose  to  do  by  the  Patten  multiplex 
telegraph,  which  has  been  in  successful  operation  in  New  York  and  Philadelphia  for 
the  last  six  months. 

Mr.  Patten,  the  inventor,  also  appeared  before  the  committee  and  explained  his 
invention.  He  said  by  it  the  carrying  capacity  of  one  wire  was  equal  to  eight  or 
P T 4 


50 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.' 


eveu  twelve  wires  under  the  present  system.  Mr.  Seymour  claimed  that  had  the 
Western  Union  used  the  Patten  system  last  year  its  expenses  would  have  been 
$6,000,000  instead  of  $16,000,000.  That  to  establish  the  system  as  proposed  by  the 
Postmaster-General  would  cost  only  about  $7,000,000,  and  to  maintain  the  lines  would 
cost  about  75  per  cent,  less  than  under  the  present  systems.  Moreover,  he  asserted 
that  a complete  system  covering  the  entire  country  would  cost  not  more  than 
$25,000,000. 

The  present  Western  Union  is  capitalized  at  about  $80,000,000,  and  it  is  to  pay 
dividends  on  this  large  capital  that  Dr.  Green  told  the  committee  was  impossible  at 
lower  rates.  But  if  the  water  were  squeezed  out  of  that  great  capital  could  not  Dr. 
Green  reduce  his  rates  and  still  earn  a fair  profit  ? Or,  if  by  adopting  the  latest 
methods  and  inventions  instead  of  adhering  to  the  old  ones,  could  he  not  do  it  So 
think  Mr.  Seymour  and  Mr.  Patten.  In  a notice  of  Mr.  Edison’s  telegrai)hic  mventious 
not  long  since  we  saw  it  stated  that  he  could  take  any  invention  to  the  Western 
Union  and  get  his  own  price  for  it,  and  that  the  safes  of  that  company  contained 
unused  patents  by  himself  and  others  representing  a value  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  dollars,  which  it  had  bought  to  prevent  others  from  buying  and  held  as  a club 
over  any  parties  who  might  attempt  to  start  an  opposition  to  it,  while  still  adhering 
to  its  old  methods  in  order  to  make  its  big  statement  of  expenses  a justification  for 
its  oppressive  changes. 

We  hope  the  postal  telegraph  will  be  adopted  by  Congress.  The  time  is  come 
when  it  should  be.  The  first  telegra]»h  line  was  built  and  operated  by  the  Govern- ' 
ment,  and  it  should  never  have  been  sold  to  private  parties.  The  transmission  of 
intelligence  by  wire  is  as  legitimate  a Government  function  as  bj'^  mail.  It  has  been 
successful  in  England,  for  we  do  not  believe  Dr.  Green’s  statement  that  Government 
management  there  has  been  at  a loss,  or  if  it  has  it  is  because  too  low  a rate  was 
fixed.  But  our  Government  rates  would  be  higher,  and  practical  men  are  willing  to 
undertake  the  work  at  those  rates.  Shrewd  capitalists  like  these  do  not  often  make  . 
a mistake.  Let  us  try  it. 

[Pueblo  (Colo.)  Press,  March  17.] 

The  suggestions  of  Postmaster- General  Wanamaker  in  regard  to  a postal  telegraph  ' 
system  either  by  contract  with  existing  telegraph  companies  or  by  the  Government 
building  lines  of  its  own,  seem  to  be  well  considered  and  strongly  fortified  with  facts  [ 
and  figures.  In  the  discussion  of  the  subject  Avith  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  ^ 
Western  Union  Company,  he  has  had  the  best  of  the  argument,  and,  not  only  that,  ; 
but  has  never  lost  his  temper  and  become  personal  and  abusive.  But  the  propo.sition  ■ 
would  be  received  with  more  favor  if  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  name  were  not  connected  with  : 
so  many  quixotic  and  useless  schemes.  His  training  schools  for  church  deacons  is 
one,  and  his  Sunday  school  farm — a place  of  retirement  for  persons  who  have  broken  ■ 
down  under  the  exhaustive  strain  of  Sunday  school work — is  another.  It  is  probable  s 
these  schemes  are  not  intended  to  be  put  in  practice — that  they  are  simply  intended  i 
to  advertise  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and  through  him  his  Philade]])hia  business — but  the  ] 
connection  of  his  name  with  them  has  the  effect  of  lowering  him  in  popular  estima-  ’ 
tiou  and  causing  any  more  serious  suggestions  he  may  make  on  other  subjects  to  be  ' 
looked  upon  in  the  same  light.  For  this  reason,  partly,  he  may  not  succeed  in  car-  ‘ 
rying  out  his  plan  of  postal  telegraphy,  but  his  agitation  of  the  subject  and  hisargu-  ^ 
ments  showing  its  practicability  will  clear  the  way  for  some  future  Postmaster-  < 
General  to  succeed  tvhere  he  has  failed. 

1 Bloomington  Leader,  March  18.1 

A New  York  syndicate  has  submitted  to  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  a prop-  j 
osition  to  establish  and  maintain  a Government  postal  telegraph  system.  One  of  the  | 
provisions  of  the  proposition  is  that  the  Government  shall  exempt  the  company  from  | 
Federal  and  State  taxation.  No  reasons  are  given,  however,  why  the  company,  if  1 
permitted  to  operate  a Government  telegraphic  line,  should  be  exempted  from  such 
taxation,  but  doubtless  the  fact  is  that  the  syndicate  wants  a private  snap.  It  may 
puzzle  some  people  to  know  why  the  syndicate  did  not  pro})osethat  the  Government, 
after  giving  it  a franchise  worth  several  millions  of  dollars,  should  build  the  line  and  , 
furnish  the  telegraphic  machinery  free  of  charge.  If  there  is  anything  in  the  signs  , 
of  the  times,  however,  the  Government  is  likely  to  own  and  operate  its  own  telegraph  ; 
lines  one  of  these  days,  and  work  them  at  cost  for  the  benefit  of  the  people.  * 

[Deuisoii  (Iowa)  Eeview,  March  17.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  supported  by  the  administration,  is  making  a j 
gallant  fight  against  one  of  the  great  monopolies  of  the  United  States.  The  Presi- 
dent in  his  message  and  the  Postmaster-General  in  his  annual  report  have  developed 


1 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


51 


tlie  project  of  annexing  the  telegraph  to  the  postal  service.  Every  sane  man,  not  an. 
attorney  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  corporation,  or  one  fearful  that  the  suc- 
cessful amalgamation  of  the  telegraph  with  the  postal  service  might  lead  to'  the  ex- 
tension of  the  principle  in  annexing  the  railroad  and  express  service  as  well,  must 
perceive  the  great  economies  which  the  people  will  derive  Ifom  the  change. 

In  the  first  place,  small  villages  would  be  served  with  equal  diligence  with  the 
large  cities.  The  great  monopoly  holds  out  as  a bribe  to  the  general  public  two 
things:  first,  service  at  very  low  rates  to  the  daily  press,  especially  to  the  i)ress  asso- 
ciation ; and  cheap  and  prompt  service  in  the  centers  of  population.  Bnt  every  one 
knows  by  experience  that  the  telegraph  service  in  small  places  is  execrable.  There 
is  no  word  in  the  English  language  sufficiently  strong  to  express  the  contemptible 
character  of  the  local  telegraph  service.  Not  only  are  the  rates  very  high,  which  on 
the  whole  is  the  least  exceptional  feature,  but  the  only  certainty,  after  giving  the 
dispatch  to  the  operator,  of  having  a telegram  delivered  with  celerity,  is  to  take  a 
duplicate  and  start  with  it  yourself  on  foot. 

Every  one  can  see  that  the  Government  would  save  room  hire,  as  well  as  clerk  hire, 
in  all  the  smaller  offices;  for  the  assistant  jiostmaster  or  clerk  could  also  be  a tele- 
graph operator,  and  could  well  discharge  l)oth  duties  in  villages  of  less  than  two 
thousand  inhabitants.  Secondly,  there  would  need  to  be  kept  no  .separate  system  of 
accounts  or  book-keeping,  for  the,Government  could  siniply  issue  telegraph  stamps  or 
cards  and  the  postmaster  would  have  to  account  for  these  exactly  as  he  accounts  for 
his  postal  goods.  The  postmaster  could  be  paid  a commission,  precisely  as  he  now  is 
for  the  transaction  of  postal  business.  Under  these  circumstances  alone  a great 
saving  could  be  effected.  If  any  one  could  purchase  at  the  post-office  a telegram 
card,  good  for  ten  words,  for  ten  cents,  which  he  could  dio})into  anj^  postal-box  with 
a certainty  of  its  promj)t  transmission,  thousands  of  persons  who  are  on  journeys, 
for  instance,  would  drop  one  of  these  cards  in  the  box  so  as  to  give  information  to 
their  friends  of  their  safe  arrival,  and  thousands  of  messages  ordering  goods  and 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  money,  etc.,  would  be  .sent,  instead  of  as  at  present,  when 
the  telegraph  service  among  the  great  mass  of  the  people  is  used  only  to  announce  a 
death  or  some  great  calamity,  so  that  when  a telegraph  messenger  calls  at  a private 
house,  the  per.son  before  opening  it  will  be  terror  stricken,  as  the  expectation  is  an 
announcement  of  either  danger  or  death. 

Theie  can  be  no  doubt  that  millions  of  messages  would  be  sent  in  the  course  of  a 
few  years  when  the  public  had  become  used  to  the  s^’stem,  precisely  as  the  commuta- 
tion rates  on  railroads  induce  thousands  of  passengers  to  ride  who  would  otherwise 
not  re.^ide  in  the  suburbs  of  cities. 

But  why  has  not  this  system  so  latent  with  public  benefits,  been  adopted  years  ago  ? 
First,  the  daily  press,  which  has  the  Associated  Press  franchise,  and  thereby  a great 
monopoly  because  its  news  has  the  preference  on  the  wire,  is  unanimously  opposed , 
to  the  governmental  system.  It  not  only  has  the  lowest  possible  rates,  but  a news 
monopoly  as  well.  The  next  class  of  opiiosition  comes  from  the  monetary  power  and 
influences  directly  interested  in  drawing  the  enormous  dividends  which  the  telegraph 
monopoly  pays,  while  every  prejudiced  person,  in  and  out  of  Congress,  in  favor  of 
great  trusts  and  monopolies  opposes  this  amalgamation  instinctively  with  every  sort 
of  pretext  that  the  imagination  of  man  can  invent. 

But  where  is  the  voice  of  the  people  ? Why'^  is  it  not  heard  when  at  least  one  defi- 
nite effort  is  being  made  to  crush  a monoxioly  and  substitute  for  it  a service  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people  ? We  hear,  especially  in  the  country,  great 
denunciation  of  monopolies ; in  fact,  talking  with  one’s  mouth  in.stead  of  thinking 
with  one’s  brains  is  the  fashion  nowadays.  The  Democratic  press  in  particular,  rep- 
resenting as  it  does  the  party^  which  sends  millionaire  Brice,  who  resides  in  New  York, 
as  Senator  from  Ohio,  to  represent  monopoly  in  the  Senate,  is  especially  fierce  in 
charging  monopolistic  tendencies  upon  the  Republican  party.  Neither  the  Democratic 
nor  the  independent  press,  nor  the  so-called  reform-hobby  knights,  have  said  a soli- 
tary word  in  sustaining  the  administration  in  its  doubtful  fight  against  this  anaconda 
monopoly.  The  reason  why  so  little  progress  is  made  in  the  line  of  legislation  for 
the  interests  of  the  people  as  against  capitalistic  classes,  is  that  there  is  no  heart  nor 
sincerity  in  the  demands  for  a change.  It  is  enough  to  damn  Wanamaker  in  the  eyes 
j of  all  Bourbon  Democrats  that  he  is  a Sunday-school  superintendent ; it  is  enough  to 
' raise  a sneer  of  derision  agaiust  him  becau.se  he  is  a merchant  instead  of  a lawyer ; 
and  nothing  that  he  can  do  can  meet  the  approval  of  a Democrat,  above  all  other 
reasons,  because  he  is  a Republican.  As  long  as  men  only"  phiy  with  words,  as  long  as 
the  cry  agaiust  monopoly  and  trusts  is  simply  a party  catch-word,  as  long  as  inde- 
pendent men  can  not  step  beyond  party  lines  to  give  a hearty  approval  to  good  works 
and  genuine  reform,  all  efforts  to  secure  a change  will  be  fruitless. 

There  ought  to  be  petitions  presented,  signed  by  citizens  without  distinction  of 
party,  in  favor  of  a Government  postal-telegraph  system,  so  that  the  Repre.sentatives 
, and  Senators  in  Congress  may  know  the  voice  of  the  people,  and  may  not  be  able  to 


UNlVtKSlIY  OR 
ILllNOl.S  LIBRARY 


52 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


shield  themselves  on  the  assumption  that  there  is  an  utter  indilference  on  the  part  of 
the  public  to  this  important  project. 

The  Harrison  administration,  which  has  now  been  in  office  for  one  year,  has  been 
characterized  by  a quiet  but  earnest  endeavor  to  shape  the  Government  policy  in  the 
interests  of  the  masses  of  the  people.  Every  recommendation  made  by  the  President 
and  the  Cabinet  in  the  line  of  silver  coinage,  administrative  reform  in  the  tariff  so  that 
the  system  of  undervaluation  may  be  ended,  and  the  assumption  by  the  Government 
of  the  telegraph  service  have  all  been  in  the  interest  of  the  masses  of  the  people  ; and 
while  it  is  not  strange  that  not  one  word  of  commendation  should  have  been  received 
from  a bigoted  Democratic  press,  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  independent  voter  has 
not  been  sufficiently  intelligent  to  perceive  the  tendency  of  this  legislation  and  to 
give  to  the  administration  an  earn  st  and  hearty  supi)ort. 

[Omaha  Bee,  March  19.] 

Mr.  Evans,  of  Chattanooga,  is  chairman  of  the  subcommittee  of  the  House  Commit- 
tee on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  having  the  Wanamaker  postal-telegraph  bill  in 
charge.  He  listened  with  close  attention  to  Mr.  Rosewater’s  statements  to  day,  and 
this  evening  said  : “Mr.  Rosewater  presented  an  argument  which  is  simply  unan- 
swerable as  to  why  the  Government  should  control  the  telegraph  in  time  of  war,  and 
I think  his  argument  in  favor  of  Government  control  at  all  times  can  not  be  refuted. 

I notice  that  President  Green  has  just  asked  the  committee  to  give  him  a further 
hearing.  Mr.  Rosewater’s  statements  were  the  most  practical  and  contained  the 
greatest  amount  of  common  sense  of  any  that  have  been  made  before  the  committee. 

He  has  shown  that  a large  amount  of  telegraph  property  acquired  by  the  Government 
during  the  war  has  been  turned  over  to  the  telegraph  companies  ; that  grant  roads 
have  joined  the  monoiiolies,  turning  over  their  lines  to  the  telegraph  companies  in 
detiance  of  the  contracts,  and  has  in  tine  presented  every  argument  that  a practical  ’ 
mind  could  conceive  in  favor  of  his  [losition.  I do  not  know  that  the  committee 
will  report  the  Wanamaker  proposition,  but  I am  confident  it  will  report  in  favor  of  ' 
some  kind  of  an  arrangement  in  some  degree  similar  to  that  one.  Mr.  Rosewater  I 
made  his  position  especially  tenable  and  above  criticism  by  not  advocating  any  special  ^ 
form  of  postal  telegraphy,  and  not  by  attacking  the  telegraph  companies  viciously, 
keeping  in  perfect  humor.  He  showed  himself  to  be  worMng  for  the  public  good.” 

[Karthaus  (Pa.)  Times,  March  19.]  * 

The  sturdy  manner  in  which  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  advocates  the  estab-  y 
lishment  of  national  postal  telegraphy  explains  the  source  of  many  of  the  malignant  4 
attacks  upon  him.  Auj^  man  who  has  the  courage  to  propose  a measure  which  will 
benefit  the  people  at  the  expense  of  a giant  monopoly  may  be  sure  that  no  effort  will  ] 
be  spared  to  defame  and  destroy  him.  But  we  hope  Mr.  Wanamaker  will  persevere  '! 
until  success  crowns  his  efforts.  Then  let  him  go  a step  farther  and  plan  a national  < 
express  system  by  means  of  which  the  public  may  be  served  at  reasonable  rates.  He  ^ 
may  be  sure  of  the  support  of  the  great  mass  of  the  people  in  his  efforts  to  clip  the  i 
claws  of  corporations  that  mercilessly  prey  upon  their  customers.  ) 

[Santa  F6  New  Mexican,  March  19.]  ! 

The  Postmaster-General’s  ideas  relating  to  postal  telegraphy  are  attracting  the  at-  ^ 
tention  of  many  of  the  foremost  capitalists  of  the  country,  and  they  will  ere  long  . 
doubtless  be  carried  into  practical  effect.  A New  York  syndicate  offers  to  establish  ■ 
a system  that  will  transact  all  business  required  by  the  Government  at  a cost  not  to 
exceed  1 cent  a word,  a proposition  that  no  doubt  caused  Dr.  Green  to  turn  red  with 
angefr.  The  idea  is  to  use-the  Patten  system  of  transmission,  whereby  a single  wire  , 
can  be  made  to  Y)erform  the  duty  of  a dozen  under  the  Morse  method.  It  is  said  that  ^ 
were  the  Western  Union  in  a position  to  use  this  new  system  its  operating  expenses  ^ 
would  be  reduced  from  §16,000,000  to  §6,000,000  per  year.  It  must  indeed  be  a valua-  j 
ble  invention  to  accomplish  this  saving.  The  New  Yorkers  who  ask  the  privilege  of  J 
doing  the  Government  work  agree  to  expend  |7, 000,000  immediately  in  establishing 
the  new  service,  and  agree  eventually  to  cover  the  country  with  a network  of  wires  4 
the  total  cost  of  which  will  be  about  §25,000,000. 

[Norristown  Herald,  March  20.] 

The  board  of  trade  has  very  properly  indorsed  the  bill  draughted  by  Postmaster-Gen-  ^ 
era!  Wanamaker  for  the  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph  in  connection  with  the 
Post-Office  De[)artment. 

Mr.  Wanamakcr’s  idea  is  experimental  in  its  nature.  He  proposes  that  the  Govern- 
ment  shall  lease  lines  already  in  existence,  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  loss  in  any, 
event.  His  plauHhas  the  merit  of  being  susceptible  of  operation  at  any  time. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


53 


The  United  States  is  the  only  civilized  country  of  note  which  has  no  arrangement 
for  the  rapid  transmission  of  intelligence  in  connection  with  the  post  office  system. 
Any  objection  that  can  be  urged  against  the  postal  telegraph  would  have  had  equal 
or  x)erhaps  greater  weight  against  any  other  improvement  in  the  service  during  the 
past  century. 

This  wonderful  convenience,  indispensable  as  it  is  to  the  public,  has  heretofore  been 
limited  to  the  few.  It  is  not  worth  while  to  discuss  the  causes  that  have  produced 
the  result.  It  is  enough  that  they  have  existed  and ‘that  they  are  still  operative  to  a 
certain  extent. 

The  jioint  is  this:  how  to  popularize  so  important  an  adjunct  to  the  public  conven- 
ience. Mr.  Wauamaker  points  out  the  way.  It  is  manifestly  a good  thing,  and  there 
is  no  consideration  of  public  interest  that  will  prevent  its  adoption.  There  is  noth- 
ing to  be  urged  against  the  inii)rovement  that  should  have  any  influence  with  those 
who  are  legislating  for  the  public  good. 

Ultimately,  of  course,  the  Government  should,  as  it  will,  own  and  operate  its  own 
lines,  and  it  will  be  a matter  of  wonder  th  it  this  course  should  have  been  so  long  de- 
ferred. For  the  present,  however,  the  prop  tsition  of  Mr.  Wan  un  iker  will  be  accepted 
by  the  [uiblic  as  a forward  movement  th<j.t  commands  the  hearty  approval  of  business 
men  and  citizens  generally. 

[Petersburgh  Index  Appeal,  March  20.] 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a Government  telegraph  is  just  what  the  people  would  like 
to  have.  Call  it,  for  euphony’s  sake,  a postal  telegraph,  so  as  not  to  shock  too  rudely 
the  sensitive  eares  and  nerves  of  extreme  States’  rights  doctrinaires,  but  what  is 
wanted,  pure  and  simple,  is  a Government  telegraph ; one  owned  and  controlled  by 
Uncle  Sam,  the  management  of  which  may  be  contided  for  the  sake  of  convenience  to 
the  Post-Office  Department.  Experiments  are  always  more  or  less  costly,  especially 
Avhen  the  object  sought  to  be  obtained  is  within  reach  without  them.  For  this 
reason  we  do  not  wholly  favor  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  plan,  the  execution 
of  which  would  serve  to  decrease  the  business  of  existing  lines  on  routes  where  they 
would  come  in  competition  with  those  owned  by  the  Government,  while  in  districts 
where  this  wouid  not  be  the  case,  rates  Avould  probably  be  raised  so  as  to  make  up 
for  the  loss  elsewhere.  There  is  no  equity  in  the  scheme,  nor  would  the  interests  of 
the  public  be  greatly  promoted  thereb3^ 

The  desideratum  is  a complete,  cheai),  prompt,  safe  Government  telegraph  system. 
To  attain  it  there  are  two  ways.  One  is  for  the  Government  to  buy  all  existing  lines 
at  a fair  valuation  fixed  by  competent,  honorable,  disinterested  arbitrators.  To  take 
thene  at  figures  put  up  by  their  owners,  which  would  include  watered  stock  and  all, 
would  be  robbing  the  public  treasury,  and  is  not  to  be  thought  of.  If  the  owners 
object  to  selling  and  the  Government  has  not  the  power  to  force  them  to  a sale,  then 
another  way  is  open.  That  is  for  the  Government  to  duplicate  as  speedily  as  may  be 
existing  lines  throughout  the  country.  It  has  been  repeatedlj^  stated  that  the  entire 
plant  of  the  Western  Union  Company  can  be  duplicated  for  less  than  l$30,000,000, 
although  the  value  has  been  inflated  by  means  of  liberally  watering  the  stock  to 
something  near,  or  over,  one  hundred  millions.  With  the  ample  means  which  the 
Government  could  command  it  is  probable  that  the  country  could  be  covered  with 
a practically  com])lete  system  of  telegraphs  within  a little  more  than  five  years. 

The  benefit  to  the  people  of  a Government  telegraph  is  obAUous.  As  no  dividend  for 
stockholders  need  be  earned,  cheap  rates  could  at  once  be  established  and  the  word 
limit  of  messages  be  enlarged  so  as  to  make  the  service  virtually  one  for  telegraphic 
correspondence.  In  order  to  insure  safety  and  secrecy  in  the  handling  and  delivering 
of  messages,  strict  rules  should  be  prescribed  by  la  w and  their  violation  followed  by 
exemplary  punishment.  In  every  respect  a telegraphic  message  should  be  hedged 
about  with  as  much  protection  to  guard  its  privacy"  as  is  now  done  in  the  case  of  let- 
ters. All  these  precautions  being  carefully  and  conscientiously  observed,  no  more 
anxiety  need  be  felt  as  to  the  proper  administration  of  a Government  telegraph  service 
than  is  now  experienced  in  regard  to  that  of  the  postal  service.  The  most  frequently 
urged  objection  of  opiiressive  and  repressive  action  on  the  part  of  the  employes  of  a 
GoA^ernment  telegraph  system  in  times  of  political  excitement  wouhl  lose  much  of  its 
force  if  stringent  laws  were  enacted  and  enforced  to  make  such  a course  extremely 
dangerous  to  those  disposed  to  attempt  it. 

Under  existing  conditions  the  telegraph  is  a luxury  from  the  enjoyment  of  which 
the  poor  man  is  excluded.  A telegraphic  message  can  be  sent  through  all  i)art8  of 
Great  Britain  for  a sixpence,  or  twelve  cents,  and  tAA'enty-fivo  or  thirty  cents  ought 
to  be  the  highest  price  exacted  for  a twenty  Avord  message  from  the  people  of  the 
United  States  under  the  operations  of  a Government  telegraph. 


54 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


fSalem  (Oregon)  CapitalJoarnal,  Marcli21.1 

The  Government  should  undertai^e  postal  telegraphy.  It  would  give  a competition 
that  is  not  obtainable  from  any  other  source.  It  would  stimulate  improvements  in 
telegraphy  that  are  not  now  anticipated.  It  would  wonderfully  improve  the  service  we 
now  have.  Building  the  new  system  would  take  a great  deal  of  the  surplus  labor 
now  idle.  It  would  give  employment  constantly  for  tens  of  thousands  of  young  men 
and  women.  If  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  wants  to  make  his  name  famous  in 
the  annals  of  American  history,  let  him  bring  about  postal  telegraphy.  He  will  be 
resisted  by  the  present  monopoly  but  he  will  be  upheld  by  the  peojde.  He  will  be 
the  first  cabinet  officer  who  has  done  anything  of  value  for  the  public  in  many  years. 

fKeystoue  Gazette  (Bellefonte,  Pa.),  March  21.1 

There  is  a gentleman  in  Bellefonte  who  is  a large  stockholder  in  the  Adams’  Ex- 
press Company,  and  also  in  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  It  is  right  that 
be  should  further  the  interests  of  these  companies  by  his  voice  and  pen,  and  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  he  is  the  author  of  the  articles  now  appearing  iu  the  Daily 
News  and  Republican,  attacking  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  and  adversely 
criticising  his  efforts  to  cheapen  both  the  mail  and  telegraph  service  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people.  It  is  in  accord  also  with  the  past  history  of  these  papers  that  thej'’, 
though  sometimes  claiming  to  be  Republican  iu  politics,  should  publish  such  articles 
fora  financial  consideration,  even  if  iu  doing  so  they  injure  the  party  by  attacking  a 
gentleman  who  is  now  very  prominent  in  its  counsels,  and  who  is  seeking  to  make  it 
successful  by  applying  to  its  management  the  same  sound  business  principles  which 
have  made  his  osvn  private  business  affairs  such  a grand  success. 

rDemocratic  Watchman  (Bellefonte,  Pa.),  March  21.] 

Some  attention  has  been  attracted  by  a series  of  editorial  articles  in  the  Bellefonte 
Republican,  pitching  into  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  generallj'',  but  particu- 
larly on  account  of  his  scheme  to  bring  the  telegraph  lines  of  the  country  under  the 
control  of  the  Government.  Gue  of  them  was  republished  in  the  New  York  Sun  to 
show  what  a good  Pennsylvania  Republican  journal  thought  of  Wanamaker.  How 
these  articles  got  into  its  columns  and  what  object  inspired  them  was  a mystery  to 
those  who  knew  the  character  of  the  paper.  The  general  impression  hereabouts  is 
that  so  far  as  the  sentiments  of  its  editor  are  concerned  it  would  make  very  little 
difference  to  him  whether  Wanamaker  should  succeed  in  making  the  telegraph  busi- 
ness part  of  the  post-office  service,  or  even  in  making  the  Post-Office  Department  an 
annex  to  his  Bethany  Sunday  School.  Hence  the  surprise  that  the  Republican  took  a 
position  hostile  to  any  of  his  measures. 

But  there  is  now  a strong  suspicion  that  these  anti-Wanamaker  expressions  have 
emanated  from  the  accomplished  and  versatile  pen  of  ourfriendand  neighbor,  James 
Millikeu,  Esq.,  who  is  a heavy  stockholder  in  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, and  wbo,  although  an  ardent  Republican,  would  naturally  object  to  having 
his  interests  gobbled  up  by  even  a Republicau  administration.  A confirmation  of 
the  belief  that  it  is  Mr.  Milliken  that  is  throwing  these  bombs  into  the  Post-Office 
Department  is  furnished  by  the  circumstance  that  the  last  of  the  Wanamaker  ex- 
coriations is  about  his  wanting  to  bring  the  mails  into  competition  with  the  Adams 
Express  Company.  What  stronger  circumstantial  evidence,  pointing  to  the  author- 
ship of  these  articles,  is  needed  than  the  fact  that  Mr.  Milliken  is  also  one  of  that 
company’s  heaviest  stockholders  ? 

[Lawrenceville  (Pa.)  Herald,  March  22.] 

The  postal  telegraphic  service  proposed  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  in 
his  annual  report  should  receive  prompt  attention  at  the  hands  of  Congress.  Many 
people  do  not  comprehend  the  scheme.  They  regard  it  as  something  altogether 
different  from  what  now  exists.  As  a matter  of  fact  the  proposition  is  merely  a con- 
tinuance, only  in  a different  channel,  of  the  system  now  in  operation  by  the  Post-Office 
Department.  The  Postmaster-General’s  proposition  to  contract  with  the  telegraph 
companies  for  the  transmission  of  messages  under  the  direction  of  the  Post-Office  De- 
partment is  simply  a continuation  of  the  system  of  contracts  now  made  with  the  rail- 
road companies  for  the  delivery  of  letters.  As  will  be  observed,  there  is  no  violent 
departure  from  existing  methods  involved  in  this  plan. 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  idea  apiiears  to  be  for  his  Department  to  execute  contracts  with 
telegraph  conqianies  for  transmission  of  messages  at  a low  rate  for  immediate  delivery'. 
The  telegraph  compan.v  would  merely'  be  responsible  for  the  delivery  of  the  message 
from  the  post-office  in  one  cit.v  or  town  to  the  post-office  of  another.  The  Post-Office 
Department  would  then  attend  to  the  delivery  of  the  message.  This  of  course  would 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITII^S. 


55 


be  (lone  by  the  carriers,  according  to  the  system  now  provided  by  the  special-delivery 
stamp  upon  letters.  This  could  be  made  a great  advantage  to  the  money-order  system 
of  the  postal-service,  as  orders  for  cash  would  be  telegraphed  by  a private  code,  at  a 
small  cost,  with  certainty  of  immediate  delivery.  This  proposition,  carried  out  by 
appropriate  legislation,  would  be  a step  of  progress  in  postal  matters  that  could  not 
fail  to* give  satisfaction  to  the  people. 

[Norristown  (Pa.)  Herald , March  22.] 

The  House  Postal  Committee  is  now  considering  the  postal  telegraph  i)roposition  of 
Mr.  Wauamaker.  If  those  composing  it  have  the  intere.sts  of  the  business  public  at 
heart,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  they  have,  the  idea  will  be  promptly  indorsed. 

[Lo  t Angeles  (Cal.)  Evening  Express.] 

Editor  Express  : The  question  of  establishing  by  act  of  Congress  a telegraph  sys- 
tem, to  be  operated  in  conjunction  with  the  postal  service,  to  be  known  as  a postal 
telegraph,  has  long  been  urged,  and  its  necessity  becomes  more  and  more  apparent 
as  time  passes.  The  vast  volume  of  Government  business  required  to  be  transacted 
promptly,  to  great  distances,  makes  it  imperative  that  it  should  be  done  b}^  telegraph, 
and  at  the  rates  paid,  even  at  Government  contract  price,  which  ranges  some  lower 
than  private  rates,  would  amount  to  enough  each  year  to  pay  a very  large  portion  of 
the  expense  of  building  and  maintaining  such  a line.  The  agitation  takes  a stronger 
hold  in  Congress  each  season,  and  it  will  by-and-by  be  an  accomplished  fact. 

Postmaster-General  Wauamaker  is  urging  the  matter  on  the  attention  of  Congress- 
.rnen  very  strongly,  so  hiuch  so  that  he  has  stirred  up  the  managers  of  the  old  lines, 
especiallj'^  the  Western  Union,  and  quite  an  interesting  discussion  is  now  going  on 
between  that  company,  the  Postmaster-General,  and  a Congressional  committee.  The 
result  will  be,  if  a telegraph  is  not  authorized  this  session,  the  public  will  be  well 
advised  as  to  telegraph  matters.  A postal  system  will  surely  come  ; messages  will  be 
sent  at  a low  figure,  enabling  all  classes  to  use  it  as  much  as  they  like,  and  the  rates 
will  pay  for  the  investment.  When  President  Norvin  Green  of  the  Western  Union 
made  his  statement  in  opposing  the  reduction  of  Government  rates,  and  the  estab- 
lishing of  what  he  deems  a serious  rivalry,  he  did  not  state  that  nearly  all  his  original 
system  west  of  the  Missouri  River  was  built  through  the  generosity  of  the  Govern- 
ment twenty  years  ago,  and  that  not  one  dollar  of  the  money  then  advanced  has  been 
returned,  but  that  the  Government  has  been  the  well- feathered  goose  that  has  been 
regularly  plucked  ever  since.  If  the  Western  Union  should  recall  and  cancel  a few 
thousand  of  the  many  telegraph  franks  it  has  annually  issued  to  as  many  men — rail- 
road managers,  judges,  and  public  officers,  all  supposed  to  have  “ influence  ” — it  might 
materially  reduce  the  rates  of  transmission  and  yet  have  a generous  income,  more 
than  enough  to  paj^  a nice  dividend,  including  its  forty  millions  of  entirely  imaginary 
stock. 

In  its  contracts  with  that  company  the  Gov'ernment  was  always  at  a disadvantage, 
and  this  is  the  way  it  worked  ; Up  to  quite  a recent  period  no  one  in  the  railway-mail 
service  was  authorized  to  use  the  telegraph  to  inform  connecting  clerks,  main  or  ter- 
minal offices,  of  the  delay  of  trains,  and  the  probable  hour  of  arrival.  Indeed,  clerks 
were  not  allowed  to  telegraph  unless  under  extreme  necessity,  because  of  the  expense 
it  was  said  ; the  consequence  was  uncertainty  and  confusion  everywhere.  Clerks 
have  remained  at  the  depots  in  Los  Angeles,  on  many  an  occasion,  from  one  to  ten 
hours,  in  the  hot  sun,  in  the  rain,  and  in  the  cold,  waiting  for  a delay^'d  train  which 
no  information  could  be  obtained  from.  This  has  been  the  case  for  years  all  over  the 
country.  On  the  other  hand.  Wells,  Fargo  & Co.’s  wagon  would  be  driven  up  to  the 
depot  about  fifteen  minutes  before  the  train  arrived,  regardless  of  the  hour.  The 
difference  was  the  postal  clerks  were  not  permitted  to  send  a message  over  the  tele- 
graph line,  while  the  messengers  of  Wells,  Fargo  & Co.  were  required  to  do  it  if  more 
than  one  hour  late.  Result:  postal  affairs  all  deranged  and  uncertain,  and  Wells, 
Fargo  & Co.’s  business  eorrect  and  in  order. 

This  is  one  of  the  irregularities  that  the  Postmaster-General  wishes  to  correct, 
among  others,  besides  making  the  felegraph  useful  to  the  whole  people,  and  it  is 
earnestly  to  be  hoped  that  he  will  succeed,  as  he  has  every  right  argument  on  his 
side.  (R.  H.  H.,  Los  Angeles,  March  23.) 

['Williamsport  (Pa.)  Republican,  March  25.] 

Mr.  Abner  McKinley,  a brother  of  Maj.  William  McKinley,  appeared  before  the 
Post-Office  Committee  of  the  House  ou  Saturday  and  talked  about  a system  of  postal 
telegraphy  that  seems,  on  sight,  to  revolutionize  the  transmission  of  messages  over 
an  electric  wire.  Instead  of  the  Government’s  purchasing  or  making  a contract  with 
the  Western  Union,  Mr.  McKinley  urges  Congress  to  adopt  the  Essick  system  of 


56 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


telegraphy,  which  is  something  just  invented.  By  this  system  messages  are  sent  by 
means  of  an  electric  typewriter,  and  received  by  similar  instruments.  The  message 
is  written  and  received  in  plain  Roman  letters.  A person  must  dispatch  the  message 
just  as  an  ordinary  typewriter  prints  a page.  The  message  is  reproduced  at  the  other 
end  of  the  line  automatically,  no  operator  being  necessary.  Mr.  McKinley  says  that 
messages  have  been  successfully  transmitted  from  New  York  to  Pittsburgh,  a distance, 
by  wire,  of  600  miles.  He  Claims  that  this  new  system  has  great  advantages  over 
the  Morse  system  in  that  the  message  can  not  be  stolen  from  the  wire,  and  it  can  be 
read  by  anybody.  He  offered  to  place  one  instrument  in  Washington  for  the  use. of 
the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices,  so  that  it  might  be  thoroughly  tested.  Messages 
can  be  reproduced  instantly  in  as  many  ditferent  places  as  is  wished. 

Whether  or  not  Congress  adopts  this  new  system  of  sending  and  recording  messages, 
for  the  purpose  of  postal  telegraphy,  if  it  does  all  that  Mr.  McKinley  claims  for  it, 
the  Morse  method  of  telegraphy  will  soon  have  to  give  way  before  this  latest  inven- 
tion. It  is  an  interesting  question  in  scientitic  circles  whether  this  new  system  can 
be  so  perfected  as  to  work  successfully  for  long  distances.  The  friends  of  the  Essick 
Company  are  sure  that  they  have  gotten  out  a good  thing,  and  more  than  this,  that 
the  Government  will  be  wise  if  it  contracts  with  them  to  do  the  postal  telegraphy 
business.  It  is  well  to  remember  that  not  only  business  men,  but  all  classes  of  people 
generally,  are  in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph  system. 

' [Portsmouth  (N.  H.)  Penny  Post,  March  26.] 

The  evident  growing  support  that  is  being  given  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’^s 
plan  for  improving  the  telegraph  service  shows  the  wisdom  of  its  suggestion  and 
the  aptness  of  the  people  to  favor  quickly  ideas  that  prove  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of 
improvement  and  advancement.  To  the  Post-Office  Department  it  means  the  assump- 
tion of  additional  responsibility  on  the  one  hand,  and  a lessening  of  transit  expendi- 
ture on  the  other  to  an  extent  that  will  materially  aid  the  lessening  of  burden  if  not 
of  working  force. 

To  Government,  it  assures  the  conveyance  of  instructions  to  subordinates  and  proper 
orders  promptly  at  no  additional  cost.  To  the  jiublic,  it  means  extra  accommoda- 
tions at  rates  that  warrant  the  payment  of  actual  cost  incurred  to  the  Government, 
and  a reduction  from  present  rates  that  will  lift  a burden  from  citizens  generally. 

The  appointment  of  ox)erators  and  messengers  will  add  to  the  personnel  of  the  De- 
partment the  exj)ense  of  their  salaries  only,  involving  no  addition  to  the  salaries  of 
the  general  officials  or  extensive  increase  in  their  number.  The  fear  of  a reduction 
in  the  Treasury  surplus  through  the  action  contemplated  by  the  Wanamaker  plan  is 
banished  by  the  conceded  fact  that  the  Western  Union  Company  is  possessed  of  a 
practical  monopoly,  from  which  its  managers  extract  millions  of  profits  yearly.  That 
the  Government  can  administer  its  duties  when  national  control  shall  have  become 
assured  is  at  once  self-evident.  If  the  Post-Office  Department  sees  its  way  clear  to  a 
pronounced  reduction  of  rates,  thus  multiplying  the  number  of  customers  who  use 
the  wires  as  at  present  conducted,  it  is  plain  that  the  people  are  benefited  directly 
through  the  practical  abolition  of  what  will  be  looked  backward  to  in  the  future  as 
an  onerous  and  unjustifiable  tax. 

The  argument  used  in  monopolistic  quarters  that  the  proposed  action  in  regard  to 
telegraph  matters  is  a step  toward  Nationalism  is  by  no  means  susceptible  to  con- 
tradiction, or  worthy  of  serious  opposition.  In  the  future,  it  will  be  as  unpopular 
to  undertake  a return  to  the  present  telegraphic  methods  and  rates,  as  to  attempt  to 
repeal  the  postal  laws  of  the  past  quarter  of  a century  and  place  the  carrying  of 
mails  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  express  companies  and  private  enterprise. 

[Denver  Republican,  March  27.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  in  his  re- 
marks before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  endeavored  to  in- 
duce that  committee  to  report  adversely  on  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  postal 
telegraph  scheme.  There  was,  however,  a fatal  defect  in  his  argument. 

Dr.  Green  discussed  at  considerable  length  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  European 
telegraph  system,  comparing  it  with  the  system  in  the  United  States.  He  endeavored 
to  show  that  if  wo  were  to  adopt  the  scheme  suggested  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  the  cost 
to  the  Government  would  largely  exceed  the  receijds.  He  claims  that  there  would 
be  a deficit  of  ^3.000,000  if  the  Postmaster-GeneraTs  rates  were  adopted  by  the 
Western  Union.  This  was  the  foundation  of  his  argument  against  the  scheme.  He 
told  the  committee  that  Congress  would  in  the  course  of  a few  years  after  the 
adoption  of  the  Postmaster-GeneraTs  p^lan  be  called  upon  for  an  appropriation  to 
make  good  the  deficit. 

We  might  admit  that  the  business  could  not  be  conducted  without  a loss  at  the 
rate  suggested  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and  yet  the  merit  of  his  plan  would  remain.  The 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


57 


trausiiiission  of  messages  by  telegraph  is  a kind  of  service  which  properly  belongs  to 
the  Post-Office  Department.  It  belongs  to  the  same  cl.^^ss  of  service  as  the  transmis- 
sion of  letters  and  newspapers.  In  short,  it  is  the  transmission  of  information  which 
is  the  proper  work  of  the  post-office, |regai'(iless  of  whether  it  be  done  through  the 
medium  of  railways,  stage-coaches,  or  telegraph  lines. 

The  })ost-office  should  not  be  looked  ni)on  as  a business  enterprise  which  should  be 
abandoned  in  the  event  that  the  expenditure  exceeded  the  receipts.  It  is  properly  a 
branch  of  the  Government.  It  should  be  considered  in  the  same  light  as  that  in 
which  we  consider  the  maintenance  of  courts,  or  of  the  Army,  or  of  the  various  de- 
partments and  bureaus  of  the  Government  which  are  needed  for  the  regulation  of 
society  and  the  promotion  of  the  general  welfare.  No  one  would  claim  that  the  Army 
should  bo  disbanded  because  it  does  not  earn  for  the  Government  a return  equal  to 
the  amount  expended  in  its  maintenance.  No  intelligent  person  would  say  that  the 
courts  should  be  abolished  because  the  receipts  from  docket  and  other  fees  may  not 
pay  the  cost  of  maintaining  courts. 

For  the  like  reason  it  would  be  absurd  to  claim  that  the  administration  of  tlie  Post- 
Office  Department  is  a failure  whenever  its  expenditures  exceed  its  receipts.  A great 
share  of  the  burden  of  transmitting  the  mails  is  bjrne  by  the  people  who  purchase 
stamps.  These  people  are  those  who  are  directly  benefited  by  the  Department.  But 
there  is,  beyond  this,  a general  benefit  to,  the  country  which  of  itself  is  sufficient  to 
demand  the  maintenance  of  post-offices  and  post-roads.  The  same  argument  would 
apply  to  the  postal  telegraph  if  it  were  added  to  the  Post-Office  Department  as  a 
branch  of  the  postal  service.  A deficit  of  |;3,000,000  per  annum  would  be  a small 
amount  for  a wealthy  country  like  this  to  make  good  in  order  that  the  telegraph  rates 
might  be  cut  down  to  the  amount  suggested  by  Mr.  Wanamaker. 

If  the  committee  takes  this  view,  it  will  recommend  the  ado])tiou  of  the  scheme 
outlined  by  the  Postmaster-General,  for  Dr.  Green  said  that  the  scheme  could  be  car- 
ried out.  His  only  objection  being  to  it,  considered  with  respect  to  its  practicability, 
was  that  it  coukl  not  be  done  by  the  Government  or  by  a corporation  at  a profit. 
Somebody,  he  claimed,  would  have  to  make  up  the  deficiency.  But  this  deficiency 
could  well  be  made  up  by  the  Government  for  the  sake  of  obtaining  the  advantage 
of  so  important  a step  toward  the  complete  establishment  of  postal  telegraph5^ 

[Titusville  (Pa  ) Herald,  March  27.] 

The  project  of  a postal  telegraph,  urged  in  a masterly  argument  before  the  Post-Office 
Committee  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  isgaining  favor  in  Congress.  ThePitts- 
burgh  Dispatch  says:  “Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  father  in-law  of  Prof.  Alexander 
Graham  Bell,  of  telephone  fame,  made  an  eloquent  closing  argument  in  favor  of  the 
project  of  a Government  telegraph,  and  Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  the  well-known  New  York 
merchant,  representing  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade,  made  a powerful  plea  of  a 
similar  character.”  We  trust  that  the  coming  State  convention  of  Pennsylvania  will 
give  the  enterprise  its  moral  supj^ort  in  resolutions  of  strong  and  pointed  indorse- 
ment. It  is  a measure  in  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the  whole  country,  and  Con- 
gress could  perform  scarcely  any  act  and  adopt  scarcely  any  measure  which  would 
certainly  earn  the  thanks  of  the  country  than  the  giving  the  people  cheap  telegraph 
in  their  business  and  social  affairs  through  the  agency  of  the  post-office. 

Let  the  Republican  party  have  the  credit  of  introducing  this  most  useful  and  pop- 
ular improvement. 

[Marshall  (Minn.)  Messentjer,  March  28.] 

For  a long  time  Congress  has  been  wrangling  over  the  question  of  postal  telegraph, 
and  it  is  now  presented  in  a comparatively  new  form  by  Postmaster-General  Waua- 
maker,  whose  proposition  is  for  a limited  application  of  the  service  at  hist,  by  au- 
thorizing the  ]mst-office  authorities  to  contract  with  existing  telegraph  companies 
for  the  transmission  of  messages  at  rates  to  be  fixed  by  the  Dejrartment,  to  be  con- 
fined at  first  to  towns  and  cities  possessing  the  free-delivery  service,  the  messages  to 
be  delivered  by  the  existing  force  of  letter  carriers ; this  would  obviate  the  necessity 
of  an  increase  in  the  force  of  Government  employes,  which  has  been  urged  as  an  ob- 
jection to  previous  propositions.  The  Postmaster-General  is  of  the  belief  that  this 
experiment  would  meet  in  a large  degree  a public  want,  and  lead  ultimately  to  such 
a comprehension  of  the  possibilities  of  a service  of  this  kind  by  the  Government,  as  to 
enable  Congress  to  act  intelligently  upon  the  subject  in  the  future.  It  involves  no 
large  expenditure  of  money,  and  will  not  involve  the  Government  in  serious  cost  even 
, should  it  fail.  Another*  and  more  comprehensive  plan  has  been  introduced  into  the 
I House,  making  an  approi)riation  of  $8,000,000  for  the  construction  of  a trunk  tele- 
j graph  line  across  the  continent  and  connect  all  cities  and  towns  now  having  tele- 
graphic communication,  the  line  to  be  kept  in  order  by  the  Engineer  Corps  of  the 
Army  ; the  rates  are  fixed  upon  a basis  of  10  cents  for  twenty  words  for  all  distances 


I 


58 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 

less  than  500  miles.  This  proposition  is  radically  different  from  that  of  the  Post- 
master-General, and  from  the  temper  of  Congress  in  the  past  is  hardly  likely  to 
receive  favorable  consideration,  althongh  the  sentiment  of  the  public  in  favor  of 
governmental  control  of  the  telegraph  is  evidently  growing  rapidly. 


[Salem  (Oregon)  CapitalJonrnaC  Marcli  28.]  ^ 

The  Government  proposition  of  a postal  telegraph"  is  bringing  out  the  fact  that 
there  are  cheaper  systems  of  transmission  by  an  electric  current  over  a wire  than  that 
at  present  employed.  There  may  not  be  a more  desirable  or  safer  system  than  that 
in  use,  but  experiment  alone  could  determine 
The  syndicate  of  New  lork  capitalists,  who  offer  for  ^25,000,000  to  put  up  a postal 
telegraph  system  to  cover  the  whole  United  States  and  reach  every  post-office,  would 
not  employ  the  Morse  telegraph.  They  would  adopt  the  Patten  multiplex  telegraph 
invention,  the  past  year  in  successful  operation  between  New  York  and  Philadefphia. 

By  this  system  one  wire  is  made  to  have  a carrying  capacity  of  from  eight  to  twelve 
times  the  capacity  of  a single  wire  of  the  old  Morse  system.  The  lines  under  the  Pat- 
ten system,  it  is  claimed,  would  cost  about  75  per  cent,  less  than  under  the  present 
systems  Where  the  Western  Union  costs  ^16,0(10,000  annually  to  operate  the  new 
method,  covering  every  postal  route  in  the  nation,  would  cost  only  |6, 000, 000  to  ope- 
rate. Press  rates  would  be  reduced  oue-third,  and  a ten-word  message  would  cost  the 
uniform  price  of  ten  cents  to  any  point  in  the  Union.  • 

The  Government  should  undertake  postal  telegraphy.  It  would  give  a competition 
that  IS  not  obtainable  from  any  other  source.  It  would  stimulate  improvements  in 
- telegraphy  that  are  not  now  anticipated.  It  would  wonderfully  improve  the  service 
"we  no\v  have.  Building  the  new  system  would  take  a great  deal  of  the  surplus  labor 
now  idle.  It  would  give  employment  constantly  for  tens  of  thousands  of  youg  men 
^ and  women.  If  Postmaster-General  Wauamaker  wants  to  make  his  name  famous  in 
the  annals  of  American  history,  let  him  bring  about  postal  telegraphy.  He  will  be 
resisted  by  the  present  monopoly  but  he  will  be  upheld  by  the  people.  He  will  be 
the  first  cabinet  officer  who  has  done  anything  of  value  for  the  public  in  manj'  years. 


[Bellt'fonte  (Pa.)  Democratic  Watchman,  March  28.] 

from  the  evidence  of  a combination  of  circumstances  we  were  led  to  believe  that 
Mr.  James  Millikeu  was  the  author  of  articles  that  appeared  in  the  Daily  News  and 
Republican  of  this  place,  condemning  Postmaster-General  Wananiaker  for  his  project, 
to  make  the  telegraph  business  of  the  country  a part  of  the  post-office  ser  vice,  and  we 
said  so  in  our  issue  of  last  week  in  an  article  headed  ‘‘A  Mystery  Explained.”  In 
answer  to  this  the  Daily  News  had  the  following  paragraph  : " 

‘‘  We  have  always  given  the  editor  of  the  Watchman  credit  with  possessing  cousid-  ! 
erable  foresight,  reasoning,  and  powers  of  intuition,  but  after  reading  the  first  article 
in  third  column  on  fourth  page  of  last  week’s  paper  entitled  ‘A  Mystery  Explained,’ 
we  have  come  to  the  conelusion  that  there  is  one  more  weak-minded,  giddy-headed 
editor  in  the  world  than  we  thought  there  was.” 

^ This  piece  of  foolishness  is  of  no  weight  in  the  question,  but  on  Wednesday  morn- 
ing an  incident  occurred  which  confirmed  our  belief  that  it  is  our  friend  and  neigh- 
bor, Mr.  Millikeu,  who  is  throwing  hotshot  into  the  Post  Office  Department  through  ^ 
our  neighbor’s  columns.  The  incident  to  which  we  refer  was  the  appearance  in  our 
sanctum  of  a colored  man  who  handed  us  an  envelope  well  filled  with  manuscript  and  f- 
directed  to  Mr.  Gat6s,  editor  of  the  Daily  News,  saying  that  Mr.  Milliken  had  sent  it.  f 
Seeing  that  he  had  made  a mistake  and  got  into  the  wrong  shop,  we  set  him  right 
and  he  took  it  over  to  the  place  where  it  belonged.  In  the  afternoon  the  Daily  News 
came  out  with  another  fierce  attack  on  Wauamaker.  A man  could  be  hanged  on  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  less  strong  than  that. 

[Boston  Commercial  Bulletin,  Marcli  29.] 


Mr.  J.  N.  Seymour,  of  New  York,  re])resenting  Patton’s  multiple  system  of  telegra-  ' 
phy  and  a party  of  capitalists  is  advocating  the  use  of  the  system  by  the  Government.  ' 
He  proposed  to  accept  the  low-tariff  schedule  of  Wauamaker,  or  make  a uniform  rate  , 
of  25  cents  for  the  whole  country,  providing  the  Government  would  give  to  his  pro- > 
posed  company  the  right  to  build  lines  on  all  post  routes,  furnish  offices  with  light  ' 
and  fuel;  exempt  it  from  taxation  and  enter  into  a fifteen  years’  contract  subject  to  - 
renewal  on  the  s.ame  terms.  It  is  claimed  that  Mr.  Patten’s  iustruments  will  multi- 
ply the  transmitting  capacity  by  eight  and  that  the  cost  of  construction  and  main- 
tenance will  not  exceed  25  per  cent,  of  the  amount  paid  for  Morse  lines.  He  stated  i 
that  the  Western  Union  Company’s  lines  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  would  ' 
cost  .^4,000  a mile,  while  the  wires  required  to  do  all  the  business  by  the  Patten  svs-  , 
tern  would  cost  |500  per  mile. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


59 


[St.  Louis  Star  Sayings,  March  30.] 

In  his  closiuj;  arguiueut  in  favor  of  Government  control  of  the  telegraph,  delivered 
lefore  the  House  Conirnittee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  at  Wasliington  a few 
lavs  ago,  Mr.  E(l.  Rosewater,  of  the  Omaha  Bee,  himself  a practical  telegraj)}!  man, 
ironght  out  prominently  some  of  the  faults  of  the  present  system  of  operating  tele- 
;raph  lines  in  this  country.  Among  other  things  he  said  : 

There  are  40,000  ])ost-offices  in  the  United  States  to-day  having  no  telegraph  serv- 
ce.  We  are  told  that  these  people  are  not  entitled  to  the  use  of  the  telegraph  ; that 
hey  are  nothing  but  common  farmers  and  clodho])pers  and  would  not  send  anything 
>y  *telegrai)h  except  a death  message  occasionally.  I claim  in  the  first  place  that  the 
8,000  otfic<is  that  are  now  reported  to  exist  in  this  country  for  public  service,  are  not 
n condition  to  transmit  the  business  of  the  people  living  at  those  stations;  that  they 
,re  merely  adjuncts,  making  a little  income  for  the  telegra[)h  company  without  any 
pecial  facility  to  do  the  business  of  the  public. 

All  of  you  are  aware  that  in  most  of  these  small  railroad  stations  the  railroad  cora- 
•anies  maintain  a very  cheap  oi)erator.  Sometimes  they  pay  them  from  !$’20  to|i25or 
30  2)er  month.  They  are  what  professionals  call  pings,  or  unskilled  operators.  They 
xe  not  competent  to  do  commercial  business.  They  are  competent  in  the  vocabulary 
;hich  they  have,  which  is  a limited  one,  to  handle  railroad  business,  because  the  same 
fords  occur  all  the  time  to  the  railroad  operator,  such  as  baggage,  checks,  conductor, 
ar,  station,  etc.  These^words,  perhaps  500  in  all,  are  all  that  this  operator  readily 
eceives.  When  he  gets  any  other  i)art  of  the  English  language  he  genei  ally  breaks 
own.  Now'  yon  come  to  one  of  these  stations  and  yon  want  to  transmit  a message, 
’he  oi)erator  will  receive  it,  but  he  is  bound  to  do  his  railroad  work,  he  gets  no  extra 
ay  from  the  telegraph  company,  and  it  is  no  interest  to  him  whether  he  does  the 
fork  or  not.  The  message  is  put  on  the  hook  and  it  may  be  there  a day  or  only  a 
iw  hours.  But  at  any  rate  ten  chances  to  one  you  wdll  reach  your  destination  before 
he  message  gets' there.  That  service  is  practically  worthless,  so  that  a very  large 
umber  of  our  cities  of  from  1,500  to  2,000  inhabitants  are  deprived  of  the  use  of  the 
elegraph,  and  the  traveling  public,  w'hich  comprises  a very  large  number  of  the 
leople  of  this  country,  are  also  badly  served. 

It  the  Government  liad  in  the  various  post-offices  in  these  small  cities  a postmaster 
fho  w^as  chosen  wdth  a view  to  his  capacity  as  a telegraj)her  the  business  w’oiild  be 
one  much  more  to  the  interest  of  the  public — that  is,  it  w'ould  be  done  more  effi- 
iently  and  be  better  taken  care  of.  I believe  that  the  time  w'ill  come  w’hen  20,000 
f these  40,000  post-offices  wdiich  can  not  now'  be  reached  bj' telegraph  w’ill  be  supplied 
fithout  any  extra  expense  to  the  Government. 

[Maunfacturer  (Philadelphia),  April  1.] 

The  interesting  ad<lress  made  at  the  last  club  meeting  by  Mr.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard, 
f Washington,  in  relation  to  the  i)ostal  telegraph  scheme,  may  serve  as  a text  for 
ame  comments  upon  the  subject  in  this  [ilace.  The  facts  tliat  only  1,000,000  Ameri- 
ans  out  of  a population  of  00,000,000  use' the  telegraph,  and  that  but  2 per  cent,  of 
he  messages  in  this  country  are  of  a social  character,  as  against  50  per  cent,  in  Eng- 
uid,  indicate  that  there  must  be  in  this  country  some  olistacles  to  popular  emplo^''- 
leut  of  the  wires  which  do  not  exist  across  the  water.  In  our  view'  those  obstacles 
re  high  rates  and  ])Oor  service.  A 25-cent  rate  for  a ten-word  message  to  New'  York 
lay  not  appear  excessive  wh.en  regarded  by  itself,  but  in  f ict  it  is  relatively  high, 
'wo  cents  will  carry  a letter  to  New  Orleans  or  to  San  Francisco  ; and  in  comparison 
fith  such  service  transmission  of  a few'er  words  less  than  a hundred  miles  at  a charge 
f 25  cents  is  dearly  paid  for.  And  the  service  is  by  no  means  what  it  ought  to  be. 
n a large  iiercentage  of  dispatches  errors  of  vexations  and  sometimes  hurtful  char- 
cter  are  made.  Ordinary  messages  are  not  transmitted  with  such  speed  as  the 
3nder  is  entitled  to. 

It  is  witi  in  the  experience  of  every  business  man  that  messages  might  sometimes 
ave  been  sent  by  hand  on  one  of  the  tw'o-honr  trains  from  Philadelphia  to  New' 
[ork  with  a fair  chance  of  reaching  the  destination  as  quickly  as  if  they  had  been 
*nt  by  wire.  The  service  betw'een  the  large  cities  is,  however,  better  than  that  to 
ae  smaller  tow'iis.  Not  far  from  Philadelphia  is  a town  of  six  or  seven  tliousand 
iihabitants,  having  great  industrial  interests.  It  costs  but  little  more  to  send  a 
lesseuger  thither  from  the  city  by  rail  than  to  use  the  wdres,  and  ordinarily  such  a 
iessenger  can  go  out  and  return  before  a telegram  sent  in  one  direction  wdll  reach 
jie  person  to  w'hom  it  is  addressed.  No  telegrams  are  delivered  in  the  town  after  8 
’clock  in  the  evening  unless  it  is  of  vital  importance.  The  operator  is  the  person 
'ho  estimates  its  importance,  and  he  rarely  fails  to  give  the  benefit  of  the  doubt  to 
le  legs  of  his  boy.  If  the  post  office  gave  such  inefficient  service  in  the  matter  of 
stters,  it  would  be  compelled  by  ])ublic  opinion  to  improve  its  methods. 

The  strongest  argument  for  transfer  of  this  business  to  the  post  office,  however,  is 


60 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


that  it  is  now  ^vholly  within  the  control  of  one  man.  This  individual  possesses  the- 
power  to  inform  himself  of  the  nature  of  any  intelligence  transmitted  over  the  wires, 
whether  it  refers  to  hnsiness,  to  family  matters,  or  to  politics.  He  also  has  the  press- 
of  the  country  at  his  mercy.  No  daily  newspaper  could  conduct  its  business  if  it 
should  be  denied  press-rates  for  its  dispatches  while  its  rivals  were  accorded  that 
favor.  Thus  the  entire  daily  press  of  the  country  is  open  to  most  hurtful  assault  from 
the  telegraph  monopoly,  and  this  will  account  for  the  timidity  with  which  the  news- 
papers have  treated  the  ])ostal  telegraph  scheme.  They  shrink  from  incurring  the 
disfavor  of  a power  that  may  do  them  great  injury.  It  is  possible  that  the  telegrajih 
magnate  in  question  has  never  used  his  opportunity  to  menace  the  press,  to  manipu-  ' 
late  the  stock  market,  to  pry  into  the  secrets  of  others,  or  to  balk  the  purpose  of  a 
political  party  ; but  he  should  not  have  such  an  opportunity.  The  power  involved 
ought  not  to  be  in  the  hands  of  any  one  man  or  body  of  men  not  holding  positions  of 
official  responsibility.  A nation  that  understood  its  own  interests  would  not  trust 
a man  as  good  as  George  Washington  with  a weapon  of  such  tremendous  force.  But 
this  man  who  may  vield  the  weapon  if  he  will  is  probably  less  worthy  of  such  trust 
than  any  other  well-known  person  who  could  be  named.  He  has  a record  as  an  un- 
scrupulous wrong-doer,  which  even  the  gigantic  fortune  he  has  accumulated  has  not 
sufficed  to  obscure. 

Opposition  to  the  conduct  of  the  telegraph  business  of  the  country  by  the  General 
Government  is  offered  upon  the  ground  that  it  is  adnovenient  in  the  direct  on  of  pa- 
ternalism that  it  wilhestablish  a precedent  for  the  encouragement  of  those  persons 
who  wish  the  Government  to  meddle  with  all  the  private  affairs  of  the  people.  Pater- 
nalism is  a favorite  scare-crow  with  other  persons  than  telegraph  managers — with 
free-traders,  for  example.  But  the  American  people  are  not  easily  alarmed  by  the 
word*  They  run  this  Government.  Politically  they  are  orphans.  The  benighted 
red  man  talks  about  the  Great  Father  at  Washington  ; but  the  rest  of  us  know  who 
elects  that  individual  and  who  turns  him  out  when  he  fails  to  behave  himself  prop-  ‘ 
erly.  The  function  of  any  government  is  to  do  for  the  people  that  which  individuals  ; 
can  not  so  well  do  themselves.  This  is  the  ground  upon  which  is  based  the  assump-  ; 
tion  by  the  Government  of  a monopoly  in  the  matter  of  letter  carriage.  Carrying  J 
messages  by  rail  and  carrying  them  by  wire  are  services  of  a similar  character  per-  l 
formed  by  different  methods.  They  are  essentially  the  same  ; they  belong  together,, 
and  every  argument  that  may  be  used  to  defend  the  operation  of  the  post-office  by  , 
Federal  authority  will  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  operation  of  the  telegraphic  bus-  j 
iness  of  the  nation  by  the  same  authority.  In  fact,  as  Mr.  Hubbard  showed,  the  tel-  - 
egraph  at  the  beginning  was  intrusted  to  the  post-office,  and  simply  because  that 
was  obviously  the  proper  authority  to  conduct  a traffic  so  nearly  akin  to  letter  car-  . 
riage.  What  we  want  to  do  now  is  to  put  the  business  back  where  it  was  in  the  first  ‘ 
place.  There  is  far  greater  cause  why  that  course  should  be  pursued  now  than  there  • 
was  at  the,  outset,  because  correspondence  by  Avire  has  become  a positive  necessity  of  ; 
modern  life  and  it  touches  the  interests  of  the  peo))le  at  every  point.  The  people  • 
simply  propose  to  take  into  their  own  hands  what  is  essentially  their  own  business  ; ^ 
to  have  it  conducted  to  suit  then),  and  at  fair  rates.  The  assurance  that  they  can  do  it  \ 
better  than  it  is  now  done  is  supplied  by  the  fact  that  the  Post-Office  is  the  best  man-  { 
aged  D.  partmeiit  of  the  Government,  gnd  for  the  reason  that  it  comes  into  close  con-  ' 
tact  with  the  entire  nation.  \ 

Objection  has  been  made  to  the  project  upon  the  ground  that  the  party  in  power  ■ 
will  always  have  access,  through  operators  of  its  own  faith,  to  the  messages  of  a 
rival  party  in  a political  campaigu.  But  cipher  messages  are  by  no  means  an  impos- 
sibility and  we  may  fairly  entertain  the  hope  that  before  long  the  American  people 
will  have  advanced  sufficiently  in  civilization  to  adopt  civil  service  rules  forbidding 
partisanship  to  be  the  chief  recommendation  for  appointment  to  public  office.  When 
we  forbid  politicians  to  use  public  places  for  payment  of  their  debts  we  shall  have 
public  servants  who  will  prefer  to  serve  their  country  before  serving  any  party. 
And,  at  the  worst,  the  people  we  imagine  AA'ould  rather  trust  this  telegraph  business, 
even  in  critical  times,  to  Democratic  or  Republican  operators  than  to  have  it  wholly 
within  the  control  of  the  individual  who  now  is  master  of  it.  Mr.  Wananiaker’s 
project  is  for  a postal  telegraph  in  small  measure;  but  it  will  come  soon  in  large 
measure,  and  after  that  we  shall  have  a parcels  post,  which  will  break  down  the 
monopoly  now  held  by  the  express  companies. 

[Petersbiirgh  Index- Appeal,  xVpril  3 ] 

Before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  which  is  hearing, 
arguments  on  the  subject  of  Governmeut  telegraphy,  ihere  appeared  the  other  day^ 
a gentleman  who  set  forth  the  claims  of  a new  invention  which,  if  found  practicable, 
would  at  one  stroke  solve  all  the  difficulties  that  are  sujiposed  to  lie  in  the  way  of  thejj 
oiieration  of  a telegraph  by  the  Government.  This  gentleman  represented  a “ print-i 
ing  telegraph”  comi)auy  and  claimed  that  his  company  could  do  business  at  prices* 

I 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


G1 


that  would  tempt  tlie  public  to  use  the  wires  instead  of  the  mails.  * * * There 

is  much  in  these  statements  that  is  allurinjy  to  ])eople  to  whom,  by  reason  of  prevail- 
ing high  rates,  the  telegraph  is  an  unknown  and  practically  unattainable  luxury. 

f Portsmouth  (N.  H.  )reiiny  Post,  April  4.] 

The  comprehensive  apd  well-digested  i)lans  laid  before  Congress  in  the  address  before 
the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  made  by  Postmaster-General 
John  Wananiaker,  has  brought  the  attention  of  the  country  to  a measure  the  bene- 
ficial results  of  which,  if  passed,  are  at  once  palpable  to  the  public  at  large,  and 
at  the  same  time  can  not  be  tortured  into  any  appearance  of  partnership,  or  op- 
posed on  the  ground  of  possible  invasion  of  the  rights  of  any  private  citizen  or  in- 
cori)orated  association  of  citizens.  The  address  is  replete  with  common  sense  state- 
ments that  comm<;nd  the  proposed  action  of  Government — plain  propositions  from  an 
•eminently  practical  business  man  intent  on  opening  the  waj'^  to  economical  communi- 
cation by  wire  to  that  vast  proportion  of  American  citizens  unable  under  present 
circumstances  to  avail  themselves  of  rapid  transit  in  the  transfer  and  exchange  of  in- 
telligence and  information  of  vital  interest  to  each  and  all. 

That  the  legislative  department  of  Government  may  not  fail  to  understand  its 
great  privilege  and  seemingly  undeniable  duty,  the  Postmaster-General  hedges  his 
recommendations  by  indisputable  facts  and  a display  of  the  necessities  which  prompt 
him  to  urge  the  taking  of  the  important  step  he  suggests,  with  incontrovertible  argu- 
ments and  an  earnestness  and  vigor  of  purpose  that  betoken  the  best  results,  born 
of  unselfish  desire  to  institute  a much  needed  reform  that  shall  take  its  place  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  important  measures  that  have  made  eminent  the  annals  of  the 
nineteenth  century ! 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  concisely  asks  authorization  “ to  enter  into  con- 
tract with  responsible  parties  to  connect  a certain  number  of  post-onices  with  each 
other  for  telegraphic  purposes  by  leased  wires  and  instruments  to  be  operated  by 
post-office  employes  to  carry  messages  for  the  Government  and  the  public  * * * uot 
proposing  that  the  Government  should  purchase  or  build  a telegraph  line  * * * nor 

the  creating  of  a new  body  of  employes,  but  the  utilization  of  the  post-office  build-, 
ings,  clerks,  and  carriers  now  in  use  for  a convenience  and  economy  of  service — a 
union  of  post  and  telegraph  on  a basis  that  will  not  interfere  with  any  existing 
rights.’’  One  benefit  promised  is  the  public  privilege  of  allowing  citizens  to  drop 
njessages  to  be  wired  in  the  mail  boxes,  to  be  collected  by  carriers  as  letters  are,  and 
telegraphed,  payment  for  same  being  made  by  stamps  affixed  to  the  messages  to 
be  sent,  thus  dispensing  with  the  keeping  of  other  than  stamp  accounts.  The  author- 
ity and  the  wires  secured,  there  can  be  nothing  w^orse  expected  from  the  project  than 
, complete  satisfaction  and  public  support  equal  to  that  wliich  sustains  the  postal  serv- 
ice and  accommodates  sixty  millions  of  citizens.  The  sooner  the  favorable  action  of 
Congress  is  secured  the  better  for  the  public,  and  the  more  credit  will  be  accorded  the 
representatives  chosen  to  carry  out  the  wishes  of  their  constituents. 

! [Manufacturers’  Record,  Baltimore,  April  5.] 

I 

In  the  concise  and  business-like  report  of  the  Postmaster-General  of  the  United 
States  that  was  transmitted  to  Congress  by  the  President,  there  may  be  found  on 
pages  14  to  16,  inclusive,  some  interesting  statements,  followed  by  a conclusive  argu- 
ment for  the  establishment  of  a limited  post  and  telegraph  system  as  an  addition  to 
the  post-office  service  of  the  country.  This  proposition  has  been  largely  misunder- 
stood, many  supposing  that  the  Postmaster-General  was  trying  to  introduce  the  old 
fashioned  general  postal  telegraphy,  instead  of  the  limited,  which  is  quite  a different 
affair. 

The  adoption  of  the  proposed  scheme  would  interfere  with  no  vested  rights,  nor  would 
it  establish  a monopoly.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  give  all  who  desired  to  do  so  a 
chance  to  bid  on  all  contracts  for  carrying  messages  by  wire,  just  as  railroad,  steam- 
boat, and  stage  companies  do  now  for  the  carrying  of  the  mails.  Other  capital  could 
then  bid  for  a share  of  the  tremendous  business  now  virtually  monopolized  by  one  con- 
cern, and  such  open  competition  would  certainly  cheapen  the  cost  of  telegraphy  to  the 
people.  The  Western  Union  pays  a good  dividend  on  a stock  that,  it  is  understood, 
has  been  watered  to  an  extravagant  extent,  thus  confessing  the  profits  of  its  business. 
It  stands  to  reason  that,  with  an  open  field  and  no  favor,  there  would  be  plenty  of 
competing  capital  eager  to  establish  and  maintain  such  a system  as  Mr.  Wanamaker 
has  outlined. 

This  subject  having  been  officially  presented  to  Congress  immediately  attracted 
public  attention.  Since  then  five  bills  have  been  formulated,  which  are  now  under 
consideration  by  the  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  of  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Four  of  these  were  originated  by  others,  the  fifth  by  the  Post- 
master-General. The  first  hearing  on  this  subject  was  on  the  11th  of  February,  and 


62 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


others  have  been  held  at  intervals,  and  at  all  much  valuable  information  has  been 
elicited. 

ff-  ^ ^ ^ if. 

This  carefully  elaborated  plan  seems  to  be  entirely  practicable.  It  proposes  to  fur- 
nish a popular  as  distinct  from  a favored  business  service  and  to  place  a low-priced 
but  speedy  means  of  communication  within  the  reach  of  all  citizens  without  the  ex- 
penditure of  large  sums  by  the  Government.  “An  entirely  new  class  of  business,”  said 
Mr.  Wanamaker,  “would  be  developed  in  serving  the  family  and-the  slower  business 
circles  that  could  afford  to  use  the  telegraph  when  lowered  in  cost.  Besides  the  mes- 
sage service,  it  would  perform  an  equally  important  and  needed  service  in  telegrai)h- 
ing  between  the  post-offices  the  transmission  of  money  orders.  This  would  greatly 
serve  many  people.” 

The  distinction  in  the  mind  of  the  Postmaster-General  is  apparently  this : That  while 
one  million  business  people,  including  Government  and  State  officials,  use  the  wires 
now,  the  fifty-nine  million  that  constitute  the  balance  of  our  population  are  largely 
prevented  from  doing  so  because  of  the  high  rates  maintained.  He  thinks,  judging 
by  the  rejieated  demands  that  have  been  made  by  the  people  for  ten  years  or  more, 
that  the  service  should  be  popularized;  and,  after  studying  the  business  since  he  has 
been  at  the  head  of  the  postal  department,  he  has  devised  what  he  and  many  others 
consider  a practicable  plan  for  reaching  the  desired  result. 

Carefully  reviewing  the  official  reports  of  the  several  hearings  that  have  been  hjeld 
to  date,  the  unprejudiced  reader  is  compelled  to  think  that  the  onlj"  serious  oppo- 
sition to  this  plan  comes  from  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  The  spirit 
which  that  great  corporation  has,  through  its  acknowledged  representatives,  mani- 
fested in  the  committee  meetings  at  every  available  opportunity  has  been  anything 
but  commendable.  The  attempt  made  by  the  company’s  president  to  })rejudice  the 
committee  against  the  Postmaster- General  (although  it  failed  of  its  object  and  was 
quietly  but  caustically  rebuked  by  a member  of  the  committee),  nevertheless  showed  - 
the  animus  of  the  company. 

It  is  claimed  by  the  Western  Union  Company  that  it  is  impossible  to  transact  tele-- 
graphic  business  at  the  low  rates  that  the  Postmaster-General  thinks  are  sufficient.  ’ 
,On  the  other  hand, -various  parties  of  known  wealth  and  business  experience  say  that) 
it  can  be  done,  and  are  urgent  and  anxious  to  secure  the  privilege  of  undertaking  it,  ' 
and  to  give  bonds  for  any  reasonable  amount  for  the  faithful  performance  of  their 
contract.  * 

In  favor  of  the  scheme  are  scores  of  boards  of  trade,  hundreds  of  weekly  and  country  * 
newspapers  that  do  not  now  get  the  latest  news  by  wire,  because  they  can  not  afibrd  to  5 
pay  the  rates,  and  are  therefore  not  afraid  to  speak  their  minds  ; and  besides  these  are  > 
the  Farmers’  Alliance,  the  Knights  of  Labor,  and  various  other  potential  industrial ; 
organizations.  ; 

We  do  not  know  what  Congressional  wires  the  Western  Union  may  be  able  to  pull,  ) 
but  of  this  we  are  sure,  that  the  people  of  the  North  and  South  will  gladly  wolcome  ' 
any  reasonable  legislation  that  will  help  them  to  rid  themselves  of  this  burdensome  < 
monopoly,  and  that  shall  secure  to  them  a low-priced  and  well-regulated  service,  j 
Because  the  limited  plan  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General  is  in  the  line  of  this  ; 
general  demand  and  is  entire  practicable,  it  ought  to,  and  we  hope  will,  receive  the 
sanction  of  Congress. 

[Pottsville  (Pa.)  Miner’s  Journal,  April  9.]  • 

The  postal-telegraph  system,  as  projected  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  may 
be  delayed,  but  its  adoption  is  only  a question  of  time.  It  is  hard  to  name  a reason 
why  it  should  not  be  adopted.  The  question  has  been  asked  if  the  Government  has 
a right  to  run  the  postal  business  of  the  country,  as  it  does  at  present,  has  it  not  the 
right  to  say  whether  it  shall  transmit  its  messages  by  telegraph  as  well  as  through 
the  mail  pouch  ? 

To  this  question  there  has  never  been  a satisfactory  negative  answer.  Even  the 
old-fashioned  Democrat  who  has  been  taught  that  it  was  political  sacrilege  for  the,. 
])aternal  Government  to  lay  its  hands  upon  anything  for  good  or  bad,  outside  of  the 
District  of  Columbia,  has  ceased  to  worry  about  the  Government’s  taking  hold  of  the  ‘ 
postal  business,  and  in  his  good-humored  moments  acknowledges  it  to  have  been  a 
good  thing.  He  has  even  been  known  to  be  willing  to  take  a post-office  himself. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  postal-telegraph  system  would  soon  be  as  popular  as  the 
Government  postal  business.  At  any  rate  it  will  cost  but  a trifle  to  make  the  experi- 
ment, and  that  is  all  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  proposes  at  present  to  do.  If 
it  proves  to  be  a failure  no  one  will  be  injured.  The  principal  objector  to  the  scheme.^ 
is  the  great  telegraph  cor))oration  itself.  Mr.  Wauamaker’s  plan  is  for  the  Govern- 
inent  to  give  all  of  its  facilities  in  the  way  of  wires  and  buildings,  and  the  use  of  the  ’ 
post-office  service  for  telegraph  purposes,  and  to  receive  bids  from  private  parties  J 
who  wish  to  accept  these  facilities  and  furnish  the  Government  and  the  people  withal 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


63 


telegraj^b  service  with  fixed  schedule  prices  which  must  be  at  least  50  per  cent,  lower 
than  present  rates.  It  is  this  i)art  of  the  scheme  that  the  telegraph  companies  do 
Pot  like.  They  would  be  only  too  glad  to  serve  the  Government  at  present  rates,  but 
Mr.  Wauarnaker,  who  has  made  a study  of  the  business,  is  satisfied  that  a jirivate 
corporation  could  build  new  lines,  and  with  the  facilities  which  the  Government  can 
give  it,  produce  a telegraph  service  at  one-half  the  present  rates  and  far  more  satis- 
factory. 

If  the  question  were  left  to  a vote  of  the  peojile  we  believe  that  they  would  decide 
in  favor  of  making  the  experiment  by  an  overwhelming  majority.  As  there  is  no 
question  about  the  popularity  of  the  project,  why  hesitate  about  adojitiug  it? 

[Noiristown  Herald,  April  11.] 

Mr.  Gardener  G.  Hubbard,  who  has  made  the  subject  of  telegraph  facilities  a study 
for  twenty-two  years, points  out  in  certain  statements  before  the  Committee  on  Post- 
Offices  and  Post-Roads,  at  Washington,  that  this  is  the  only  country  where  the  tele- 
graph is  not  a part  of  the  postal  system,  and  that  the  present  system  do>iS  not  meet 
the  wants  of  the  })ublic. 

He  favors  a system  in  analogy  with  the  postal  service  of  the  country,  telegrams  to 
be  carried  to  the  iiost-offices  as  letters  are,  to  be  transmitted  by  the  telegraph  com- 
panies and  delivered  by  the  Post-Office  Department,  just  as  are  letters  and  papers  and 
other  articles. 

He  proves  by  facts  and  figures  that  his  statements  are  correct.  He  believes  the 
Post-Office  Department  can  do  a business  of  this  kind  for  the  people  without  any  in- 
crease of  expense  and  without  adding  to  the  number  of  employes,  and  that  the  ex- 
periment ought  therefore  to  bo  tried. 

All  this  confirms  the  wisdom  of  Postmaster-General  WanamakePs  recommendations 
on  the  subject,  which  are  now  being  considered  bj’^  the  committee.  His  proposition 
has  met  with  a cordial  response  from  business  men  all  over  the  country.  It  is  to  be 
expected  that  Congress  will  act  favorably  upon  it  at  the  present  session. 

[Ilicliuioiid  Dispatch,  April  12.  J 

The  advocates  of  a Government  telegraph  are  confident  that  for  the  Government 
to  lease  telegrai)h  lines  will  only  be  to  postpone  for  a few  years  the  establishment  of 
new  lines  as  a part  of  the  postal  system  of  the  Union.  I'he  telegraph  will  certainly 
be  a part  of  the  system  before  long.  It  is  written  in  the  book  of  fate  that  the  people 
are  soon  to  have  telegrams  delivered  to  them  as  cheaply  in  proportion  as  letters  and 
papers  are  now  delivered  to  them. 

One  of  the  experts  who  appeared  in  Washington  City,  on  the  18th  of  last  month, 
before  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post- Roads,  to  aid  in  informing  that  com- 
mittee as  to  the  merits  of  the  jiroposition  of  Postmaster- General  Wanamaker  to  make 
contracts  with  the  existing  telegraphic  lines  for  transmitting  telegrams,  was  Mr. 
Edward  Rosewater,  of  Omaha,  Nebr.  He  is  the  editor  and  chief  proprietor  of  the 
Omaha  Bee.  He  was  for  thirteen  years  actively  engaged  in  the  telegraph  service, 
for  more  than  two  years  in  the  military  telegraph  corps,  and  part  of  that  time  in  the 
field,  and  for  nearly  a year  in  the  War  Department.  He  was  for  seven  years  manager 
of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  at  Omaha,  and  for  one  year  manager  of 
the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  and  Great  Western  lines.  We  get  these  details  from  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  Rosewater  as  it  appears  in  the  pamphlet  containing  the  report  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Post-Office  Committee  in  connection  with  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  proxiosition,  aboy'e  alluded  to. 

What  says  this  expert  ? He  says  tliat  for  more  than  twenty-five  years  he  has  been 
firmly  convinced  that  the  safety  of  the  Government  demands  the  control  of  the  tele- 
graph system  by  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Government.  This  is  rather  a singular 
remark,  seeing  that  the  Post-Office  Department  is  the  only  ‘‘branch  of  the  Govern- 
ment ” w’hich  could  properly  control  the  telegraph  system.  Mr.  Rosewater  must  have 
been  thinking  of  wmr  times  when  he  made  that  remark.  He  afterwards  said  that 
with  what  knowledge  he  had  of  the  telegraph  he  would  rather  trust  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  than  any  private  corporation  or  any  manager  of  any  pri- 
vate corporation.  Here,  too,  Mr.  Rosewater  seems  to  have  had  the  exigencies  of  war 
in  his  mind  ; but  his  remark  suggests  that  whether  the  Government  takes  control  of 
the  telegraph  system  now  or  not  it  will  be  sure  to  do  so  whenever  it  shall  deem  it 
fiecessarj^  to  take  that  step. 

Mr.  Rosewater  suggested  to  the  committee  that  a rate  of  10  or  15  cents  would  be 
remunerative  to  the  Government  or  to  anybody  else  who  Avas  working  the  wires.  He 
did  not  specify  the  number  of  words,  but  we  suppose  he  had  reference  to  messages  of 
not  more  than  ten  words,  these  to  be  sent  any  where  in  the  Union.  In  this  connection 
the  following  will  be  found  interesting.  We  learn  from  Mr.  Rose  winter’s  testimony  or 
talk,  that  at  the  eighth  annual  meeting  of  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  held  in  Wash- 


'€4 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


ington  in  1888,  Mr.  Pope,  a Chicago  merchant,  made  an  exhibit  of  what  their  ex- 
perience bad  been  in  running  a cheap  telegraph  service  between  Chicago  and 
Milwaukee.  The  Western  Union  was  charging  them  for  messages  between  Chicago 
and  ^Milwaukee  20  cents  for  ten  words,  so  they  established  a system  of  their  own  be- 
tween those  cities. 


[Newport  (K.  I.)  Mercury,  April  12.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  putting  into  the  management  of  the  Post-Office 
Department  the  same  indomitable  energy  and  correct  business  principles  that  have 
made  him  so  eminently  successful  in  his  private  business.  He  has  been  industriously 
at  work  wdth  Congress  for  some  months  past  in  trying  to  secure  cheap  and  rapid 
methods  of  communication  for  the  people  in  all  iiartsof  the  country.  He  is  pushing 
vigorously  the  postal  telegraph  scheme  now  before  Congress,  and  if  he  succeeds  he 
will  not  only  confer  a great  boon  upon  the  people  but  make  for  himself  a lasting  repu- 
tation as  the  ablest  Postmaster  General  this  country  has  had  for  many  years.  His 
plan  contemplates  the  contracting  with  some  line  or  lines  of  telegraph  already  built 
or  to  be  constructed  to  transmit  messages  at  a low  rate.  These  messages  are  to  be  re- 
ceived and  delivered  from  the  post-offices  the  same  as  letters  are  now  received.  The 
plan  virtually  makes  the  telegraph  lines  that  do  this  work  a part  of  the  Post-Office 
Department,  and  as  presented  by  the  Postmaster-General  is  a thoroughly  i)ractical 
one.  The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Comjiany  is  a gigantic  monopoly,  and  is  of 
course  fighting  the  proposition  of  the  Postmaster-General  to  bring  the  telegraph 
within  the  limits  of  all  business  people,  but  thus  far  The  monopoly  has  had  the  worst 
of  the  argument.  Reliable  people  have  come  forward  and  have  offered  to  contract 
with  the  Government  to  send  all  messages  of  ten  words  within  a'  radius  of  250  miles 
for  10  cents,  or  500  miles  for  15  cents,  1,000  miles  for  25  cents,  and  over  1,000  miles  the 
highest  rate  to  be  40  cents  to  the  extreme  parts  of  the  country. 

[Eichmond  Dispatch,  April  13.]  i 

We  suppose  we  need  not  make  any  apology  for  saying  a few  words  more  on  the’ 
proposition  of  the  Postmaster-General  to  contract  with  some  or  all  of  the  telegraph 
lines  to  transmit  messages  for  tlie  Post-Office  Department ; or,  to  express  it  otherwise,  * 
the  proposition  to  make  the  teUgrapli  a part  of  the  postal  system.  i 

We  quoted  yest' rday  from  the  talk  or  testimony  of  Mr.  Rosewater,  of  Nebraska.  ^ 
He'is  an  expert  in  telegraphy,  and  has  no  doubt  that  the  Government  ought  to  do 
something  in  order  to  make  ours  a nation  of  telegraphers.  He  told  what  had  been- 
done  on  a line  of  telegraph  between  Chicago  and  Milwaukee,  and  must  have  made  a 
•decided  impression  upon  the  committee. 

On  the  11th  of  last  month  Mr.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard  appeared  before  the  same  com-* 
mittee — the  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads.  He  said  he  was  after  any; 
plan  which  would  give  cheap  telegraphing  to  the  people,  whether  through  the  West-' 
ern  Union  or  any  other  company.  He  said  we  in  this  country  use  the  telegraph  less; 
than  most  of  the  countries  of  Europe,  though  we  need  it  more.  Also,  that  whilst  we' 
use  the  telegraph  less  than  other  countries  as  a whole,  yet  for  some  purposes  it  is‘ 
used  more  extensively  here  than  elsewhere.  Also,  that  the  ‘^sore  spot”  in  the  West-' 
ern  Union  Company  was  that  it  was  a system  for  speculators  and  business-people,  i 
Also,  that  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  where  the  telegraph  is  not  a part  of 
■the  postal  system. 

This  last  is  a striking  fact.  Surely  it  must  be  regarded  as  pointing  out  the  policy 
which  ought  to  be  adopted  as  soon  as  possible  in  this  country.  Congress  need  not 
Uesitate  to  make  the  telegraph  a part  of  the  postal  system  because  of  a fear  that  to  do 
so  would  be  to  run  the  risk  of  incurring  an  enormous  expense.  The  peojile  of  the 
United  States  are  an  active,  enterprising  people.  They  will  just  as  certainly  make  a 
Government  telegrapli  pay  as  they  have  again  and  again  made  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment self-sustaining  so  far  as  letters  were  concerned,  although  the  rates  of  postage  on 
letters  have  been  reduced  again  and  again.  Theoretically,  a railroad  across  the  con- 
tinent ought  never  to  have  been  undertaken  ; but  in  point  of  fact  the  construction  of 
such  a railroad — or  rather,  several  of  them — has  paid  Uncle  Sam  a handsome  protit ; 
not  in  dividends,  but  otherwise.  We  may  claim  several  new  States  as  owing  their 
existence  as  States  to  the  railroads  which  run  from  the  Mississippi  River  to  the  Pacific 
Ocean.  So  street  railroads  are  found  to  jiay  in  towns  which  to  the  non-hopeful  and 
non-enter[)rising  citizen  seemed  to  hold  out  no  inducements  to  their  construction. 

Mr.  Hubbard  says  that  twenty-five  years  ago,  when  the  English  system  was  as  our 
own  is  now,  there  were  more  telegrams  sent  in  the  United  States  than  in  England 
in  pro{)ortion  to  population;  but  the  system  was  changed  in  England,  and  now  they 
send  more  teli'grams  than  we  do.  The  Government  of  Great  Britain  is  entitled  to 
credit  for  this  change.  Place  our  Government  in  control  of  the  telegraphs  as  a part 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  65 

of  the  postal  system,  and  we  shall  in  the  course  of  a few  years  find  telegrams  flying 
thick  and  fast  from  town  to  town  all  over  this  wide  extended  land  of  onrs. 

Mr.  Hubbard  said  : 

‘*Dr.  Green  proved  conclusively,  I think,  that  the  telegraph  does  not  meet  the 
wants  of  the  people  when  he  said  that  only  one  out  of  every  sixty  of  our  people  ever 
used  the  telegraph.  How  can  this  want  be  supplied?  Reduce  the  rates,  and  the 
business  and  profits  will  both  be  greater.  An  examination  of  the  telegraphic  system 
will  show  that  a reduction  of  50  per  cent,  in  rates  has  in  two  years  increased  the 
business  TOO  per  cent.,  and  within  three  years  gave  greater  profits  at  the  reduced 
rates  than  at  the  high  rates.” 

These  facts  seem  to  us  to  be  convincing. 

[Harrisburg  Telegraph,  April  15.] 

Postmaster-General  Wauamaker  has  prepared  a Government  postal  telegraph  bill 
in  which  the  rates  are  made  higher  than  in  the  original  measure.  In  any  event  they 
will  be  so  low  as  to  make  telegraphy  popular  with  the  masses  and  prove  Mr.  Wana- 
maker’s  assertion  that  the  measure  must  certainly  succeed.  The  people  are  ready  for 
the  service,  and  it  can  not  come  too  soon. 

[Norristown  Herald,  April  15.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanarnaker  has  prepared  an  amended  postal-telegraph  bill 
which  removes  some  trivial  objections  to  his  former  proposition.  Some  legislation 
on  the  subject  at  this  session  is  probable. 

[Denver  Republican,  April  15.] 

Every  city  which  has  a carrier  system  should  petition  Congress  to  pass  the  bill  pre- 
pared by  Postmaster-General  Wanarnaker  ibr  the  purpose  of  enabling  the  Post-Olfice 
Department  to  establish  postal  telegraphy  between  all  such  cities.  It  is  probable 
that  contracts  on  favorable  terms  could  be  made  by  the  Government  with  the  exist- 
ing telegraph  companies  for  this  service,  but  if  not,  the  Postmaster-General  should 
be  authorized  to  make  contracts  with  other  companies  which  are  willing  to  build 
telegraph  lines  between  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  country.  Nearly  all  the  civilized 
nations,  with  the  exception  of  the  United  States,  have  the  postal  telegraph  now,  and 
it  works  well  everywhere.  Why  should  we  lag  in  the  march  of  progress? 

[Manufacturers’  Record  (Baltimore),  April  19.] 

The  statements  made  before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-OfiQce  and  Post- 
Roads  have  supplied  information  of  great  value  to  Congress  and  the  country. 

The  methods  by  which  the  Western  Union  Company's  stock  was  gradually  increased 
from  $385,700  in  1858  to  $80,000,000  now  were,  to  say  the  least,  highly  objectionable. 
When,  under  the  laws  of  the  land,  a single  corporation  can  cover  the  whole  country, 
killing  off  all  competition,  and  then  charge  the  people  whatever  rates  it  chooses  for 
doing  their  business,  something  must  be  done  for  the  people’s  protection. 

The  most  reasonable  and  feasible  plan  yet  proposed  is  that  of  Postmaster-General 
Wanarnaker  to  add  to  the  Post-Office  Department  of  the  United  States  a limited  postal 
telegraph  system.  The  more  this  proposition  is  examined  the  more  it  grows  in  the 
popular  favor.  Businessmen  and  commercial  bodies  everywhere  approve  it.  On  the 
12th  of  last  month  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade  and  Transportation  adopted  the  fol- 
lowing : 

“Whereas  the  Postmaster-General  has  drafted  an  act  to  establish  a limited 
postal  telegraph  system  between  all  carrier  delivery  post-offices,  by  which  the  useful- 
ness of  the  telegraph  will  be  greatly  extended  and  the  public  given  a nniform  service 
at  a much  lower  rate  than  that  charged  by  existing  companies  ; and 

“ Whereas  the  first  telegraph  line  was  constructed  between  Washington  and  Balti- 
more with  an  appropriation  made  by  Congress  and  placed  under  the  superintendence 
of  the  Postmaster-General,  who  adopted  regulations  to  bring  it  into  constant  service 
as  a means  of  transmitting  intelligence  accessible  to  all  and  prescribed  the  rate  of 
postage,  but  this  great  instrumentality  for  good  was  afterwards  allowed  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  corporations,  which  have  used  it  as  a means  to  tax  the  public  for  this 
most  important  system  of  conveying  intelligence  ; and 

“ Whereas  the  United  States  is  the  only  country  of  importance  on  the  face  of  the 
globe  that  does  not  operate  the  telegraph  as  a part  of  the  post-office  system ; and 

“ Whereas  the  National  Board  of  Trade,  representing  the  principal"  commercial  or- 
ganizations of  the  country,  and  this  board  have  repeatedly  passed  resolutions  favor- 
ing a postal  telegrax)h,  and  various  measures  have  been  recommended  by  the  different 
P T 5 


66 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


postmasters-general  and  committees  of  Congress  to  this  end,  and  have  been  defeated  by 
the  influence  of  the  great  corporations  that  now  control  the  telegraph  business  of  the 
country,  and  in  whose  boards  of  directors  leading  men  in  both  political  parties  are 
found : 

“ Resolved,  That  this  board  re-affirms  its  previous  declarations  favoring  the  increased 
usefulness  of  the  telegraph  in  connection  with  our  postal  system,  and  although  we 
•would  prefer  to  see  th^e  Government  own  and  operate  its  own  lines,  yet  we  welcome 
the  proposition  of  the  present  Postmaster-General  as  a step  in  the  right  direction,  and 
heartily  commend  same  to  the  favorable  consideration  of  Congress.” 

The  foregoing  resolution  expresses  very  clearly  and  decidedly  the  sense  of  the  peo- 
ple at  large  by  saying,  “ We  welcome  the  proposition  of  the  present  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral as  a step  in  the  right  direction.”  That  is  it  exactly.  It  is  not  all  that  the  public 
demands,  but  it  is  a beginning  in  the  right  direction.  Let  us  hope  that  Congress  will 
have  the  wisdom  to  take  that  step  and  so  prepare  the  way  for  larger  and  better  things 
in  the  future. 

[New  Orleans  City  Item,  April  19.1 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  convinced  a good  many  members  of  the  House 
of  the  feasibility  of  his  postal  telegraph  policy,  and  there  now  seems  a likelihood  that 
an  act  on  the  subject  will  be  passed  either  at  the  present  session  or  the  next.  As  The 
Item  has  explained,  it  is  designed  to  be  a sort  of  mean  between  quick  telegraph  serv- 
ice and  the  fast  mail  with  the  speedy  delivery  feature  added.  The  friends  of  the 
scheme  expect  it  to  create  a new  business,  and  that  it  will  not  materially  affect  ex- 
isting telegraph  work,  or  lessen  the  number  of  letters  sent  by  mail  in  the  ordinary 
way.  Under  its  operation  a New  Orleans  merchant  can,  after  the  close  of  business, 
send  a dispatch  to  a correspondent  in  New  York  or  any  other  city  where  letter  car- 
riers are  employed,  and  have  it  delivered  with  the  regular  mail  next  morning.  By 
paying  ten  cents  more,  however,  he  can  have  speedy  delivery  as  now  in  case  of  ordi- 
nary letters.  A dispatch  will  consist  of  twenty  words,  including  the  address  and  sig- 
nature, for  which  25  cents  will  be  charged  fur  any  distance  less  than  three  hundred 
miles  and  double  the  rate  for  any  greater  distance,  and  to  all  distances  5 cents  addi- 
tional for  each  multiple  of  five  words  or  part  of  five,  over  the  first  twenty.  These 
charges  include  the  telegraph  service  and  the  postage.  The  bill  pending  before  the 
Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post  Roads  comprises  eighteen  sections,  is  simple  in 
its  provisions,  and  would  be  readily  understood  by  the  public  if  it  should  become  a law. 

[American  Dairyman,  April  24.  ] 


Almost  every  year  for  many  years  bills  have  been  introduced  in  Congress  for  in-  ; 
creasing  the  usefulness  of  the  Post-Office  Department  by  connecting  a telegraph  with  • 
it  in  some  form,  thus  using  the  post  offices  and  post-office  employes  with  but  small  \ 
additional  cost  to  extend  the  benefits  of  electrical  communication  to  the  general  I 
public,  which,  on  account  of  the  present  high  prices  charged  for  telegraphing,  are  .( 
confined  to  a comparatively  small  number.  ^ 

The  measures,  however,  have  been  repeatedly  defeated  through  the  influence  of  the  v 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  which  comprises  in  its  direction  a large  number  | 
of  influential  men  in  both  political  parties.  Recently  the  president  of  that  company 
argued  against  a postal  telegraph  because  he  said  it  was  not  used  by  farmers  and  poor  - 
people  generally.  Unwittingly,  he  gave  the  strongest  possible  argument  in  favor  of  ' 
a postal  telegraph.  If  a telegram  could  be  sent  for  10  cents  or  20  cents,  a great  num- 
ber of  people  of  moderate  means  would. use  it  who  can  not  now  do  so.  Farmers  would 
be  able  to  have  telegraphic  advices  of  the  markets  or  send  messages  in  case  of  sick- 
ness, which  they  are  now  largely  deterred  from  doing  on  account  of  the  expense,  and  i 
the  same  is  true  of  small  juerchants  and  persons  of  moderate  means  generally. 

With  every  reduction  in  the  postage  on  letters  there  has  been  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  number  sent,  and  consequently  in  the  usefulness  of  the  post-office  to  the  peo-  . 
pie.  The  present  Postmaster-General  proposes  to  make  a beginning  in  this  direction^  • 
by  contracting  with  existing  telegraph  lines,  or  those  to  be  constructed,  to  carry  tele-  ; 
graphic  messages  just  as  railroads  carry  letters  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  but  | 
using  the  present  post-offices  and  postal  employes  at  free  delivery  points  to  receive  4 
and  deliver  telegraph  messages.  If  this  works  well  it  can  be  further  extended.  I 

It  is  stated  that  Jay  Gould,  who  is  the  largest  owner  of  the  Western  Union  Tele-  f 
graph  Company,  has  uotified  President  Harrison  that  he  must  sit  down  ” on  this  | 
plan  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  ; otherwise,  Mr.  Gould  will  not  be  willing 
to  contribute  to  the  next  Prevsidential  election  campaign  fund.  This  may  or  may  not 
be  true,  but  the  argument  of  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- • 
pany  that  the  farmers  do  not  want  a postal  telegraph  is  not  true,  and  they  are  enti- 
tled to  the  use  of  electrical  communication  as  much  as  any  other  class. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


67 


[Atchison  Champion,  April  25.] 

The  postal  telegraph  in  England  last  year  puts  a surplus  of  $450,000  into  the  treas- 
ury. The  opponents  of  postal  telegraph  in  this  country  might  explain  why  the  tele- 
graph managed  by  the  Government  would  not  pay  here  as  well  as  in  England. 

[Denver  Republican,  April  27.] 

The  Washington  Post  opposes  the  adoption  of  Postmaster-General  WanamakePs 
postal  telegraph  scheme  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  a step  toward  paternalism  in 
government.  It  thinks  that  the  Government  might  as  well  engage  in  the  telephone 
or  in  the  telegraph  business. 

Unless  the  entire  post-office  system  is  an  improper  exercise  of  paternalism  on  the 
part  of  the  Government,  the  adoption  of  a postal  telegraph  system  would  not  be  ob- 
jectionable on  the  ground  of  paternalism.  No  intelligent  man  will  deny  that  the 
post-office  is  properly  in  the  hands  of  the  Government.  To  leave  the  transmission  and 
delivery  of  letters  to  private  enterprise  would  be  folly.  The  telegraph  is  but  an  in- 
strument for  the  transmission  of  information.  The  adoption  of  a postal  telegraph 
system  would  be  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  application  of  electricity  to  the  postal 
service. 

The  postal  telegraph  would  be  in  line  with  the  true  development  of  the  postal 
service.  If  the  Post  wishes  to  criticise  the  Post-Office  Department  on  account  of 
paternalism,  it  should  direct  its  attention  to  the  efforts  that  some  men  are  making  to 
turn  the  post-office  into  a national  express  company.  Properly  the  post-office  is  for 
the  transmission  of  information.  The  so-called  parcel  post  is  a form  of  the  postal 
service  which  may  be  called  in  question.  But  the  postal  telegraph  would  be  as  prop- 
erly a branch  of  the  post-office  as  the  collection,  transmission,  and  delivery  of  letters. 

If  the  telephone  were  mechanically  adapted  to  such  use,  it  would  be  proper  to 
employ  it  in  the  postal  service.  But  in  its  present  stage  of  development  it  is  impracti- 
cable to  use  it  in  this  way.  It  is  adapted  to  little  beyond  local  use.  It  must  there- 
fore be  left  to  private  enterprise.  The  Post’s  argument  that  a postal  telephone  would 
be  as  advisable  as  a postal  telegraph  falls,  therefore,  to  the  ground. 

[Omaha  Bee,  April  30.] 

The  Western  Union  Company  refuses  to  accept  the  schedule  of  rates  prepared  by 
Postmaster-General  Wanamaker.  It  does  not  refuse  Government  business,  however, 
and  permits  its  claims  to  remain  unsettled  until  a more  liberal  man  succeeds  the 
present  officer.  This  is  one  of  the  old  tricks  of  that  corporation.  Jay  Gould  pulls  a 
strong  oar  in  a Presidential  campaign,  and  whicheA^er  party  shows  a friendly  spirit 
is  certain  of  a liberal  contribution  for  “ legitimate  expenses.” 

[Denver  Republican,  May  2.] 

The  members  of  the  Southern  Press  Association  who  oppose  the  establishment  of  a 
system  of  postal  telegraph  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  an  improper  application  of 
the  functions  of  Government,  are  laboring  under  a mistake. 

Evidently  they  look  upon  the  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph  in  the  same  way 
that  they  would  look  upon  the  establishment  of  a Government  railway  system. 

There  is  a radical  difference  between  a Government  telegraph  and  a Government 
railway  system. 

It  will  not  be  denied  that  whatever  is  of  the  same  character  as  the  postal  service 
is  a proper  subject  of  Governmeutal  control.  The  postal  service  is  for  the  transmis- 
sion of  intelligence  or  information,  and  that  is  all  that  the  telegraph  is.  A postal 
telegraph  would  be  logically  much  more  consistent  with  the  primary  purpose  of  the 
post-office  than  the  parcels  post  system  or  even  the  money- order  system.  The  par- 
cels post  is  a system  of  express  and  not  of  postal  service ; and  the  money-order  system 
is  a kind  of  banking  and  express  system  combined. 

The  postal  telegraph  would  be  used  ehietly  for  the  transmission  of  information  from 
one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  This  is  now  done  by  means  of  letters  carried  in 
the  mails.  Men,  horses,  wagons,  and  steam  railway  cars  are  now  employed  to  trans- 
mit letters  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another.  No  one  questions  that  this  serv- 
ice is  properly  under  the  care  of  the  Government.  The  employment  of  the  telegraph 
to  transmit  messages  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  another  belongs  to  the  same 
class  of  service. 

[Atlantic  City  Review,  May  3.] 

Should  the  Government  take  charge  of  the  telegraph  system  of  the  United  States, 
we  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  would  give  equally  as  good  service  as  the  present 
monopoly  does,  although  the  Government  would  not  assume  any  responsibilities  for 


68 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


delay  or  loss  of  messages,  as  is  the  case  with  letters  and  packages,  yet  this  percentage 
is  so  small  that  no  more  inconvenience  is  experienced  by  the  business  world  through 
the  mails  than  through  transportation  companies  which  are  responsible.  There  are 
rnany  instances  occurring  daily  in  which  letters,  mailed  from  the  same  points  later  in 
the  day  than  telegrams  have  been  sent,  reached  their  destination  ahead  of  the  tele- 
grams. The  special-delivery  system  of  the  Government  is  still  more  sure  of  prompt 
delivery  in  short  distances.  As  the  postal  service,  which  is  under  the  control  of  the 
Government,  is  as  equally  reliable  as  the  telegraph  system  under  the  control  of  an  out- 
side corporation,  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that,  as  it  should  be  a superior  serv- 
ice to  the  postal,  that  if  it  was  connected  with  it  it  would  be  greatly  improved.  Mr. 
Rosewater,  editor  and  chief  proprietor  of  the  Omaha  Bee,  in  his  remarks  befoie  the 
Committee  of  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  in  support  of  Postmaster-General  Wana- 
maker’s  proposed  postal-telegraph  service,  said  that  for  more  than  twenty-live  years 
he  has  been  firmly  convinced  that  the  safety  of  this  Governmi-ut  demands  the  control 
of  the  telegraph  sysrem  by  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Government,  whether  it  be  postal 
or  otherwise,  is  not  so  material.  Mr.  Rosewater  was  for  thirteen  years  connected  with 
telegraph  companies  in  Omaha  and  speaks  from  experience. 

[Salt  Lake  Times,  May  3.] 

The  Postal  Telegraph  Company  will  have  a line  into  Denver  from  Kansas  City 
within  the  next  two  months,  and  in  all  probability  the  extension  will  then  be  pushed 
to  Salt  Lake  City,  and  eventually  to  the  Pacific  coast.  The  new  line  will  be  welcome  in 
this  city,  where  better  telegraph  facilities  are  needed.  Competition  is  what  we  want, 
as  monopoly  is  entirely  too  independent  and  insolent.  The  new  company  will  work  a 
revolution,  not  only  in  DcnA^er  but  in  Salt  Lake,  and  at  all  other  points  where  it  comes 
in  opposition  to  the  Western  Union.  We  hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the 
Government  will  have  a telegraph  system  of  its  own  for  the  use  of  the  public.  Such 
is  the  plan  proposed  by  Postmaster-General  Wauamaker,  and  nearly  every  business 
man  in  this  country  hopes  that  Congress  will  at  this  session  establish  a postal-tele- 
graph system.  It  will  cheapen  the  rates,  facilitate  business,  and  in  many  ways  prove 
a great  benefit  to  the  public.  The  employes  of  the  Government  system  would  no 
doubt  consider  themselves  the  servants  of  the  public,  and  not  masters.  In  this 
respect  they  would  be  the  opposite  of  many  of  the  monopolistic  employes,  who,  like 
their  employers,  regard  themselves  as  the  masters  of  the  public  and  owners  of  the 
earth,  and,  in  the  language  of  the  late  lamented  Vanderbilt,  say  “ the  public  be 
d d.” 


[Pittsburgh  (Pa.)  Commoner,  May  3.] 

It  is  amusing  to  note  to  what  lengths  the  friends  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
monopoly  will  go  in  their  efforts  to  defeat  what  must  sooner  or  later  become  an  es- 
tablished fact — a people’s  postal  telegraph.  The  measure  now  before  Congress  pro- 
poses only  a limited  service,  connecting  some  four  hundred  of  the  principal  post-offices, 
and  yet  when  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  announces  a public  hear- 
ing on  the  question  the  committee  room  is  always  filled  with  people  who  are  in  no 
way  directly  interested,  you  know,  but  who  are  jealous  to  guard  the  rights  of  indi- 
viduals and  citizens  from  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Government ; people  who 
were  not  sent  here  by  the  Western  Union  Company  to  oppose  the  measure,  but  who 
just  dropped  in  to  tell  the  committee  that  the  Government  should  not  intrude  upon 
the  legitimate  domain  of  the  news  carrier,  and  to  remind  them  that,  anyhow,  the 
Government  don’t  know  enough  to  run  a telegraph  line,  and  that  the  present  monop- 
oly rates  are  lower  than  Uncle  Sam  could  possibly  establish  without  great  loss  to 
the  people.  It  is  noticeable,  however,  that  when  these  wholly  disinterested  (?)  peo- 
ple are  before  the  committee,  there  is  usually  an  official  of  the  telegraph  company 
somewhere  about  the  building  who  drops  into  the  committee  room  occasionally  just 
to  keep  posted  as  to  how  the  case  is  going. 

At  previous  sessions  the  opponents  of  postal  telegraphy  have  contented  themselves 
with  ridiculing  the  measure ; but  the  idea  that  the  Government  should  own  and 
operate  the  means  of  transportation,  whether  of  intelligence  or  freight,  has  been 
steadily  gaining  ground,  and  now  we  find  the  same  opponents  endeavoring  to  stem 
the  tide  which  has  clearly  setin  favorably  to  the  measure  by  such  methods  as  are  here 
indicated.  Being  routed  at  every  step  by  legitimate  argument,  they’"  resort  to  bluff 
and  buster  to  throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  and  of  Congress. 

Within  the  last  two  weeks  a new  scheme  has  been  launched  which  it  is  thought  by 
the  newspai)ers  and  others  friendly  to  the  Western  Union  will  insure  the  defeat  of 
the  postal  bill.  It  is  the  cry  of  inconsistency.  If  there  is  one  thing  more  than  an- 
other  which  the  American  ])eople  dislike  it  is  insincerity  ; and  certain  infiuential 
newspapers  have  discerneil  that  some  one  individual  who  has  been  advocating  postal 
telegra[diy  before  Congress  owns  a few  shares  of  stock  in  some  telephone  company. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


69 


Why  don't  yon  fellows  advocate  Government  ownership  of  telephones  as  well  as 
telegraphs?”  exclaims  the  learned  editor  of  the  Washington  Post,  and  his  query  is 
echoed  by  every  monopoly  mouthpiece  iu  the  country  ; and  then,  in  articles  two  col- 
umns long,  the  reading  public  are  told  that  these  people  are  not  honest  in  their  ad- 
vocacy of  one  measure  of  reform  while  remaining  silent  on  the  other,  and  thus  seek  to 
create  a stampede  in  opposition  to  the  proposed  law. 

No  attention  would  be  paid  to  this  guerrilla  style  of  warfare  were  it  not  for  the  fact 
that  many  people  believe  all  they  read  (and  sometimes  a little  more),  especially  when 
it  comes  from  a source  in  opposition  to  organized  labor.  Now,  the  situation  is  simply 
this  : The  great  movement  for  Government  ownership  of  the  means  of  transportation 
originated  with  the  Knights  of  Labor  before  the  telephone  came  into  general  use  ; 
but  as  soon  as  that  time  came,  several  years  ago,  the  telephone  took  its  place  with  the 
telegraph  and  railroads  in  the  preamble  to  our  constitution.  Can  anyone  discern 
where  the  inconsistency  comes  in  ? 

“ But,”  says  our  learned  editor,  “ why  don’t  you  tackle  the  telephone  now,  along 
with  the  telegraph  ? ” 

For  this  reason  : First,  because  there  is  no  measure  before  Congress  looking  to  that 
end ; and  second,  because  the  one  is  now  within  our  reach,  while  the  other  is  not. 
And,  too,  there  are  many  reasons  why  it  is  most  important  that  the  Government  should 
own  and  operate  the  telegraph.  The  telephone  has  not  yet  become  a necessity  for  all 
the  people.  It  is  a recognized  luxury  for  all,  a convenience  for  a great  many  and  a 
necessity  for  a comparatively  few.  Yet  the  time  will  soon  come  when  the  Government 
will  be  asked  to  take  hold  of  the  telephone  also;  and  then  will  Bellamy’s  dream  of  a 
penny-post  and  a telephone  in  every  household  be  a possible  reality. 

The  charge  of  inconsistency  against  the  friends  of  the  postal  telegraph  because 
some  advocates  of  it  own  telephone  stock  is  the  merest  rubbish  and  does  not  des'^  rve 
consideration.  On  the  same  basis  of  reasoning,  what  assurance  has  the  public  that 
the  editors  of  newspapers  which  oppose  the  measure  do  not  own  Western  Union 
stock,  or,  what  is  more  likely  to  be  the  case,  have  not  been  subsidized  in  another  way  ? 
Such  argument  but  serves  to  strengthen  the  measure  in  the  eyes  of  a thoughtful  pub- 
lic. The  logic  of  Ralph  Beaumont  before  the  Congressional  committee,  and  that  of 
other  advocates  of  the  proposed  law  was  simply  unanswerable,  and  unless  some  ex- 
traordinary pressure  be  brought  to  prevent  the  bill  from  coming  out  of  the  commit- 
tee, the  present  Congress  may  be  confidently  expected  to  enact  a postal  telegraph 
law,  which  shall  embody  the  recommendations  of  the  Postmaster-General  for  a lim- 
ited service,  with  the  amendments  advocated  by  our  national  legislative  committee, 
providing  that  Uncle  Sam  shall  build  and  maintain  the  entire  system  independent  of 
all  individual  or  corporation  schemes. 


[Omaha  Democrat,  May  3.] 

The  Dry  Goods  Chronicle  has  a very  interesting  article  on  the  subject  of  the  propo- 
sition by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  to  establish  a postal-telegraph  system.  It 
speaks  of  an  address  recently  delivered  by  Hon.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  of  Boston,  who 
is  the  father-in-law  of  Professor  Bell,  the  inventor  of  the  telephone,  but  who  is  a level- 
headed man,  if  he  is  a father-in-law.  The  Dry  Goods  Chronicle  says: 

“ Mr.  Hubbard  recently  delivered  an  address  on  the  postal  telegraph  before  the  New 
York  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  Mr.  John  T.  Terry,  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  tried  to  prevent  being  published,  which  gave 
some  most  interesting  figures  showing  the  enormous  stock- watering  of  the  Western 
I Union  Telegraph  Company,  and  what  was  not  watered  had  been  principally  contrib- 
uted by  the  public  in  the  shape  of  excessive  charges  for  telegraph  service. 

“ The  Committee  on  Post-offices  and  Post-roads  of  the  House  of  Representatives  has 
several  bills  before  it  providing  a postal  telegraph,  and  has  been  taking  some  very 
interesting  testimony.  The  bill  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General  seems  to  be 
the  one  most  likely  to  be  adopted.  It  simply  provides  that  a beginning  shall  be  made 
by  utilizing  the  post-offices  and  Government  employes  to  receive  and  deliver  messages 
at  the  carrier  delivery  points,  the  Government  contracting  with  existing  telegraph 
lines,  or  others  to  be  formed,  to  carry  telegraph  messages,  just  as  railroad  lines  carry 
letters  at  the  present  time  for  the  department.  The  rates  proposed  in  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  bill  are  from  one-third  to  one-half  less  than  the  rates  now  ruling,  and 
resxmnsible  parties  have  offered  to  construct  lines  and  carry  messages  at  these  rates 
if  existing  lines  will  not. 

“In  the  discussion  of  this  subject  before  the  National  Board  of  Trade  at  its  annual 
meeting,  January,  1888,  it  was  shown  that  a company  formed  to  build  and  operate  a 
line  between  Chicago  and  Milwaukee,  did  business  at  first  at  one  cent  a word,  and 
within  two  years  paid  back  to  the  stockholders  90  per  cent  of  the  money  they  had  paid 
in  ; then  they  reduced  the  rate  to  half  a cent  a word,  or  five  cents  a message,  and  at 
this  rate  paid  over  40  per  cent,  upon  the  entire  stock ; then  (to  use  the  words  of 
Hon.  R.  W.  Dunham,  of  Chicago,  one  of  the  stockholders,  who  made  the  statement): 


70 


POSTAL  TELEGKAPH  FACILITIES. 


“ ‘Business  went  on  that  way  for  about  two  years;  then  the  stockholders  concluded, 
as  something  might  happen  sometime  in  the  way  of  unusual  expense,  they  would 
water  the  stock,  and  we  doubled  our  stock  from  |14,000  to  $28,000 ; still  the  result 
was  about  the  same,  and  from  25  to  40  per  cent,  is  still  paid  back  on  the  five  cents  a 
message  paid  by  the  patrons,  and  we  stockholders  are  getting  our  14  per  cent,  on  an 
investment  which  cost  us  nothing.’ 

“The  United  States  paid  for  constructing  the  first  line  of  telegraph  for  Professor 
Morse  between  Baltimore  and  Washington,  and  it  is  a shame  that  this  most  impor- 
tant agency  for  transmitting  intelligence  should  ever  have  been  allowed  to  pass  into 
the  hands  of  corporations  and  used  as  a machinery  for  taxing  the  public. 

“Mr.  Wanamaker  is  the  first  business  man  we  have  had  in  the  position  of  Post- 
master-General in  a long  time,  and  should  have  the  support  of  business  men  in  ob- 
taining this  boon  for  the  public.  If  his  administration  can  be  signalized  by  giving 
the  people  a postal  telegraph,  it  will  be  long  remembered. 

“ The  chief  argument  against  a postal  telegraph,  heretofore,  has  been  a large  increase 
in  the  force  of  Government  employes.  This  is  obviated  by  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  plan, 
and  if  the  fight  between  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Bell  Tele- 
phone Company  will  expedite  the  Postmaster-General’s  plans,  then  we  ‘ give  it  God- 
speed,”’ 


[Fort  Wayne  Gazette,  May  6.] 

(Dry  Goods  Chronicle) 

An  interesting  fight  is  on  the  tapis  between  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany and  the  Bell  Telephone  Company,  in  which  great  incidental  advantage  will 
accrue  to  the  public. 

Hon.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  of  Boston,  and  more  recently  residing  in  Washington, 
has  been  a life-long  advocate  of  a postal  telegraph.  He  is  the  father-in-law  of  Pro- 
fessor Bell,  of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company,  and  is  largely  interested  in  that  com- 
pany. 

The  similarity  of  the  functions  of  the  telephone  and  telegraph  companies  led  to 
close  business  connections  and  alliances  between  the  two  companies,  which  have 
been  approaching  a termination,  and  Mr.  Hubbard,  stimulated  by  a proposition  of 
Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  to  increase  the  usefulness  of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment in  the  direction  of  electric  communication,  has  again  begun  to  agitate  his  old 
hobby  of  postal  telegraph. 

This  has  excited  the  ire  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  which  has  be- 
gun to  iuspire  attacks  on  Mr.  Hubbard  in  newspapers,  and  is  now  sending  them 
broadcast  over  the  country.  In  this  they  have  the  more  or  less  active  co-operation 
of  a portion  of  the  press. 

It  seems  that  some  years  ago  Mr.  Murat  Halstead,  editor  of  the  Cincinnati  Com- 
mercial Gazette  (now  of  the  Brooklyn  Standard-Union),  was  secretary  of  the  Western 
Associated  Press,  and  issued  a circular  to  the  papers  in  the  association  calling 
attention  to  the  fact  that  their  contract  with  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany stipulated  that  the  press  should  discourage  the  movement  for  a postal  tele- 
graph. Mr.  Hubbard  got  hold  of  a copy  of  this  circular  and  published  it.  This  had 
the  same  eft'ect  upon  Mr.  Halstead  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  that 
a red  flag  is  supposed  to  have  upon  a bull,  and  they  have  not  been  able  to  say  enough 
mean  things  against  Mr.  Hubbard  since.  Just  now  they  are  attempting  to 

Excuse  the  si  ns  they  are  inclined  to,  ^ 

By  damning  those  they  have  no  mind  to. 

The  charges  by  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  which,  by  the  way,  there  is  no  doubt 
are  exorbitant,  are  held  up  as  an  argument  why  the  people  should  not  have  what  the 
people  of  every  other  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth  have — a cheap  electric  commu- 
nication by  postal  telegraph. 

# # if-  ii  if-  -n- 


[Cedar  Kapids  (lo-wa)  Gazette,  May  6.] 

We  are  growing  firmer  in  the  belief  that  John  Wanamaker  is  one  of  the  best  men 
in  the  Cabinet,  one  of  the  ablest,  and  in  close  accord  with  the  wishes  of  the  people. 
His  s])lendid  work  for  a postal  telegraph  must  be  sincere,  and  it  requires  nerve  to  do 
what  he  has  done.  We  are  surprised  that  the  people  do  not  see  to  it  that  their  Con- 
gressmen join  in  the  work  of  inaugurating  a postal  telegraph  system.  The  Gazette 
will  not  support  any  man  who  is  not  in  favor  of  such  a thing.  It  is  one  of  the  most 
important  measures  that  ever  came  up  in  behalf  of  the  people. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


71 


[Denver  Republican,  May  7.1 

Of  all  the  objections  to  the  postal  telegraph,  the  most  absurd  that  we  have  seen  is 
the  following,  advanced  in  an  editorial  in  the  St.  Louis  Republic  : “It  would  mean 
Government  control  of  the  telegraph  service  of  the  newspaper  press,  and  with  that 
there  would  be  no  living  in  the  country,  except  through  the  clemency  of  the  particu- 
lar clique  of  politicians  which  happened  to  have  the  upper  hand.”  Possibly  the  Re- 
public prefers  Jay  Gould,  rather  than  the  Government,  to  control  the  telegraphic  serv- 
ice of  the  newspaper  press.  Tbe  Government  would  have  the  same  control  over  the 
telegraphic  service  of  newspapers  that  it  has  over  the  letter  and  paper  service  now. 
Is  it  burdensome  for  the  Republic  to  receive  and  send  its  mail  through  a Government 
post-office? 


[Savannali  Times,  May  8.] 

The  Southern  Press  Association  has  unanimously  condemned  the  scheme  of  a Govern- 
ment postal  telegraph.  It  is  not  surprising.  Cheaper  telegraph  would  give  the  peo- 
ple more  newspapers  and  break  the  neck  of  monopolies  in  journalism.  No,  the 
Southern  dailies  do  not  want  a rival  line  to  GoukPs  little  Western  Union  plant.  They 
are"  satisfied  to  occupy  the  field  of  journalism  exclusively.  Rival  telegraph  lines 
mean  rival  morning  newspapers.  So  the  most  progressive  measure  that  has  been 
prepared  in  thirty  years  in  the  interests  of  the  people  is  condemned  for  purely  selfish 
reasons. 

This  action  of  the  Southern  Press  Association  is  likely  to  weaken  the  powers  of  the 
newspaper  in  the  advocacy  or  condemnation  of  public  measures.  If  the  newspaper’s 
own  interest  is  the  measure  of  its  judgment  and  the  pilot  of  its  conscience  how  then 
can  it  have  the  effrontery  to  denounce  measures  or  opposition  to  measures  which 
originate  in  the  same  sort  of  narrow  self-interest  ? 

Fortunately  the  condemnation  of  the  postal  telegraph  by  those  new^spapers  will 
carry  no  weight,  unless  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Postmaster-General  in  his  ef- 
fort to  carry  out  the  plan  of  Government  telegraphy.  That  plan  may  be  defeated 
for  a time  but  it  is  bound  to  materialize. 

[Petersburg)!  Rural  Messenger,  May  10.] 

Almost  every  year  for  many  years  bills  have  been  introduced  in  Congress  for  in- 
creasing the  usefulness  of  the  Post-Office* Department  by  connecting  a telegraph  with 
it  in  some  form,  thus  using  the  post-offices  and  post-office  employes,  with  but  small 
additional  cost,  to  extend  the  benefits  of  electrical  communication  to  the  general  pub- 
lic, which,  on  account  of  the  present  high  prices  charged  for  telegraphing,  are  con- 
fined to  comparatively  a small  number. 

The  measures,  however,  have  been  repeatedly  defeated  through  the  influence  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  which  comprises  in  its  direction  a large  number, 
of  influential  men  in  both  political  parties. 

Recently  the  president  of  that  company  argued  against  a postal  telegraph  because, 
he  said,  it  -was  not  used  by  farmers  and  poor  people  generally.  Unwittingly  he  gave 
the  strongest  possible  argument  in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph. 

If  a telegram  could  be  sent  for  10  cents  or  20  cents,  a great  number  of  people  of 
moderate  means  would  use  it  who  can  not  now  do  so.  Farmers  would  be  able  to  have 
telegraphic  advices  of  tbe  markets  or  send  messages  in  case  of  sickness,  which  they 
are  now  largely  deterred  from  doing  on  account  of  the  expense,  and  the  same  is  true 
of  small  merchants  and  persons  of  moderate  means  generally. 

With  every  reduction  in  the  postage  on  letters  there  has  been  an  enormous  increase 
in  the  number  sent,  and  consequently  in  the  usefulness  of  the  post-office  to  the 
people. 

The  present  Postmaster-General  proposes  to  make  a beginning  in  this  direction  by 
contracting  with  existing  telegraph  lines,  or  those  to  be  constructed,  to  carry  tele- 
graphic messages,  just  as  railroads  carry  letters  for  the  Post-Office  Department,  but 
using  the  present  post-offices  and  postal  employes  at  free-delivery  points  to  receive 
and  deliver  telegraph  messages.  If  this  works  well  it  can  be  further  extended. 

It  is  stated  that  Jay  Gould,  who  is  the  largest  owner  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  has  notified  President  Harrison  that  he  must  “sit  down”  on  this 
plan  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s,  otherwise  Mr.  Gould  will  not  be  willing  to 
contribute  to  the  next  Presidential  election  campaign  fund.  This  may  or  may  not 
be  true  ; but  the  argument  of  the  president  of  the  WesWn  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany that  the  farmers  do  not  want  a postal  t<  legraph  is  not  true,  and  they  are  en- 
titled to  the  electricity  communication  as  much  as  any  other  class. 


72 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Macon  News,  May  10.] 

Congress  may  at  a near  day  be  called  on  to  discuss  the  feasibility  of  the  govern- 
mental control  of  the  telegraph  lines.  The  debate  will  occur  under  much  more  favor- 
able conditions  than  when  this  subject  was  first  broached.  The  movement  has  gained 
strength,  and  many  once  arrayed  in  antagonism  to  the  scheme  are  now  active  sup- 
porters of  it,  or  at  least  are  neutral  and  passive.  The  mere  mention  of  the  subject 
brings  up  some  facts  illustrative  of  the  growth  of  the  telegraph.  To-day,  and  across 
oceans  and  continents,  the  news  of  the  world  is  gathered  and  transmitted.  In  1843  a 
Congressional  committee  was  astounded  that  Professor  Morse  telegraphed  over  a few 
miles  of  wire  the  words  “Mr.  Brown,  of  Indiana,  is  here.”  The  Postmaster-General 
of  that  day  was  greatly  disturbed  because  he  had  been  selected  to  look  after  the  ex- 
penditure of  $30,000  which  Congress  had  appropriated  to  aid  Professor  Morse.  He 
feared  that  the  people  would  think  him  a fool,  and  that  he  should  lose  his  influence 
and  popularity.  If  the  Government  should  assume  control  of  the  telegraph  many 
millions  will  have  to  be  expended,  not  only  in  the  building  and  purchase  of  lines,  but 
in  the  pay  of  officials.  Gentlemen  who  are  tender  on  this  subject  of  the  surplus  can 
easily  see  in  this  scheme  a way  to  get  rid  of  our  extra  money  for  the  present  and  some 
time  to  come.  Once  the  Government  could  have  had  control  of  the  whole  matter  for 
a song,  for  Professor  Morse  olfered  to  sell  out  all  his  interests  and  rights  for  the 
small  sum  of  $100,000. 


[New  York  News,  May  12. J 

A Jacksonville  paper,  in  opposing  the  postal  telegraph  bill  before  Congress,  ex- 
poses the  weakness  of  the  argument  against  it  by  declaring  that  the  Government 
should  not  be  intrusted  with  the  conduct  of  such  business,  as  it  has  been  unable,  with 
a century’s  experience,  to  make  the  postal  system  pay.  That  is  the  kind  of  argument 
that  is  generally  being  used  against  the  postal  telegraph  scheme,  and  for  which,  no 
doubt,  the  telegraph  monopoly  is  responsible.  But  the  facts  are  that  the  postal 
system  of  the  country  does  pay,  and  pays  well,  if  the  star  routes  be  excepted  and 
the  expenses  of  the  free  delivery  at  offices  which  do  not  have  a business  to  warrant 
such  expense.  In  order  to  secure  patronage  in  their  districts  the  Congressmen  have 
extended  the  free-delivery  system  to  hundreds  of  small  villages  in  the  United  States 
which  do  not  have  postal  revenues  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  carriers.  Hiring  carriers 
to  deliver  letters  in  a town  that  does  not  have  a gross  postal  revenue  of  $10,000  does 
not  furnish  any  argument  that  the  postal  business  of  the  Government  will  not  pay. 
Nor  does  the  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars  on  star  routes  in  Territories  where 
there  are  no  inhabitants  for  50  miles  at  a stretch  offer  a legimate  argument  against 
governmental  control  of  the  post-office.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  postal 
rates  are  constantly  being  lowered,  and  that  the  Department  is  managed  in  accordance 
with  the  laws  which  direct  the  extension  of  the  free-delivery  system  and  the  star 
routes  and  other  such  things  which  call  for  large  expenditures. 

All  this  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  postal  telegraph  system.  It  is  not  proposed  to 
extend  that  to  the  star  route  offices.  The  postal  business  in  the  large  cities  pays  a 
large  revenue  to  the  Government.  In  this  city  the  net  annual  revenue  amounts  to 
nearly  $4,000,000.  The  limited  postal  telegraph  scheme  proposed  in  Congress  would 
no  doubt  add  largely  to  this  revenue,  while  at  the  same  time  giving  the  people  cheap 
telegraphing  without  the  necessity  of  paying  dividends  on  “ watered  ” stock.  But 
the  telegraph  monopoly  is  hard  at  work  to  defeat  such  legislation,  and  it  will  no 
doubt  succeed. 


[Denison  (Iowa)  Keview,  May  14.] 

Take,  for  instance,  as  another  illustration,  the  great  telegraph  monopoly.  There  it 
stands  on  one  side  solitary  and  alone;  on  the  other  side  is  the  convenience  of  the 
people  and  the  example  of  foreign  nations.  In  England  the  cost  of  telegraphing  has 
beed  reduced  to  121  cents  per  message;  and,  although  the  conditions  there  are  en- 
tirely dilierent  from  those  iu  the  United  States,  the  postal  telegraph  system  has  paid 
expenses.  First,  the  English  Government  purchased  the  telegraph  lines  for  $s0,000,000 
when  it  could  have  erected  new  lines  for  $20,000,000;  and  the  iiiierest  has  been 
charged  up  to  the  ])ostal  telegraph  system  at  3 per  cent,  for  the  $80,000,000  and  it  has 
paid  it  on  that  watered  stock.  Second,  England  is  a small  country  in  territory,  no 
larger  than  the  State  of  Iowa,  and  therefore  railroad  communication  reaches  so  rap- 
idly each  point  that  there  is  not  the  same  necessity  for  telegrams  as  in  a country  of 
continental  dimensions.  Third,  the  masses  of  the  English  people  are  so  poor  that  a 
telegram  at  a cost  of  15  cents  is  as  far  beyond  their  reach  as  if  it  were  $50,  while  in 
the  United  States  even  the  boot-black  can  easily  conimand  15  cents  to  send  a telegram 
to  his  mother. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


73 


I 

We  have  already  stated,  and  we  repeat  it,  that  the  Government  telegraph  con- 
lected  with  the  postal  service  would  be  a saving  in  these  particulars:  First,  in  the 
;reat  majority  of  cases,  especially  in  the  county-seat  towns  and  smaller  places,  there 
vonld  be  no  additional  expense  for  room,  light  or  fuel,  nor  would  there  be  additional 
lixpense  for  operators,  because  the  postal  clerk  could  be  a telegraph  operator  and  could 
|iischarge  the  fuuctions  of  both.  Second,  there  need  be  no  new  system  of  accounts  or 
jook-keeping  of  any  kiud  whatsoever,  because  the  Post-Office  Department  would 
ssue  telegraphic  stamps,  precisely  as  it  now  issues  postal-cards  or  postage-stamps, 
ind  the  postmaster  would  have  to  account  for  these  stamps  at  the  end  of  each  quar- 
[;er,  no  matter  whether  he  ate  them  np  or  gave  them  away.  As  the  postmaster  now 
receives  his  percentage  on  the  post-office  business  he  transacts,  so  would  he  receive  his 
jercentage  on  the  telegraph  work  which  he  did,  and  therefore  he  would  be  stimulated 
io  extend  and  popularize  the  service.  Third,  if  telegraphic  postal  cards  were  issued 
)f  the  size  of  the  present  postal-card,  on  which  any  one  could  write  a ten-word  nies- 
lage  and  drop  it  into  a box,  every  person  in  transit  wffio  had  friends  along  the  route 
it  different  points  would  be  provided  with  these  cards,  so  that  they  could  notify  such 
riends  of  his  safe  arrival,  wffiile  commercial  travelers  would  in  thousands  of  instances 
)rder  every  night  their  goods  by  telegraph  in  place  of  the  slower  mail  process, 
bounty  newspapers  could  also  establish  a syndicate  for  new’S  gathering,  so  that  on 
rublicatiou  day  they  could  receive  a synopsis  of  the  very  latest  news  at  such  a limited 
;ost  that  it  wmuld  be  within  their  reach  of  expenditure. 

Now,  all  these  things  have  been  argued  over  and  over  again  for  the  past  twenty 
rears.  There  is  not  a new  statement  contained  in  these  paragraphs  in  this  regard, 
livery  Senator  and  Representative  has  had  again  and  again  his  attention  called  to  t^hese 
acts,  and  yet  the  telegraph  monopoly  laughs  the  people  to  scorn  and  Congress  seems 
.0  be  hypnotized. 

[Elmira  Advertiser,  May  17.] 

I call  attention  to  the  last  statement  where  the  fathers  of  the  Republic,  who  formed 
he  Constitution,  did  not  see  any  obstacles  in  the  way  to  prevent  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
iral  from  organizing  a stage  line  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  for  the  purpose 
)f  carrying  the  mails  aud  passengers  as  well.  The  Government,  as  is  seen,  went  into 
he  business  of  carrying  passengers,  building  coaches,  buying  horses,  and  employing 
Irivers  in  order  to  facilitate  the  speed  of  the  mails.  All  this  was  equal  to  building  a 
ailroad  or  telegraph  lines  in  these  times  to  promote  postal  facilities.  John  Wana- 
naker,  our  present  Postmaster-General,  is  not  Adolating  or  stretching  the  Constitution 
vhen  he  seeks  to  lease  old  or  build  new  lines  of  telegraphy  to  insure  cheap  postal 
nessages,  but  rather  is  following  the  example  and  precedent  set  by  the  founders  of 
he  Government. 

[American  Grocer,  May  21.] 

All  that  is  needed  now  to  belt  up  the  new  service  is  the  authority  and  the  wires,  aud 
i new  thrill  of  life  and  satisfaction  will  be  quickly  felt  throughout  the  country.” — 
J’ostmaster  General  Wauamaker. 

Nothiitg  stands  between  the  great  blessing  of  cheap  wire  service,  at  a uniform 
■ate  to  all  points,  but  politics  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph,  provided  every 
iitizen  will  ask  his  rei»reseutative  in  Congress  to  vote  for  a postal  telegraph  aud  use 
lis  influence  to  acquaint  the  people  with  iis  great  advantages. 

The  facts  are  simple.  The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company’s  method  is  expen- 
sive and  behind  the  times,  as  compared  with  the  newer  or  “multiplex  telegraph.” 
rhis  is  a system  whereby,  by  the  use  ot  a new  iin^eiition,  one  wire  represents  eight 
tvorking  circuits,  or  twelve,  as  may  be  desired.  Any  number  of  diflerent  messages 
jan  be  sent  at  the  same  time  over  a single  wire  connecting  two  distant  points. 

The  essential  gnin  in  such  a system  is  this.  The  two  large  items  of  expense  for 
■elegraph  companies  are,  first,  the  maintenance  of  the  line,  and  second  the  services 
ind  maintenance  of  offices,  delivery  of  messages,  and  the  ordinary  office  work.  Of 
ihese  two  the  maintenance  of  lines  is  a large  item  of  cost.  It  is  by  all  means  the 
argest  single  item  of  expense  in  operating  a telegraphic  system,  audit  is  by  reason  of 
he  fact  that  they  have  to  maintain  so  many  wires.  Where  there  are  thirty  or  forty 
ines  on  a pole,  if  an  accident  happens  to  that  pole,  a number  of  linemen  have  got  to 
JO  out,  and  it  takes  some  time  to  put  the  line  in  working  operation.  Now,  if  when 
me  lineman  goes  out  and  puts  up  one  wire  he  puts  up  eight  or  twelve  wires,  the  dif- 
erence  and  advantage  that  would  accrue  from  a system  where  one  wire  represents  a 
jreat  many  can  be  easily  seen. 

The  twelve  messages,  or  eight,  according  to  circumstances,  may  all  be  sent  in 
ither  direction,  or  there  may  be  six  going  and  coming  at  the  same  time,  or,  in  fact, 
ny  )>art  of  the  entire  twelve  operators  may  be  sending  while  the  rest  are  receiving, 
md  any  one  can  change  from  sending  to  receiving  without  disturbing  the  others, 
rhe  system  is  so  sim})ie  that  it  does  not  require  a skilled  operator  as  it  does  to  manage 
ind  adjust  the  quadruplex.  It  is  the  ordinary  straight  Morse  system,  with  each  wire 


74 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


to  itself,  and  the  operator  on  No.  I wire  can  communicate  independently  with  No.  1 
wire  at  the  other  end  of  the  line  as  if  he  had  a separate  wire. 

There  are  other  multiplex  systems,  hut  the  above  description  is  sufficient  to  indi- 
cate its  value  to  the  country  and  why  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  oppost 
its  being  taken  under  Governmental  control.  It  is  true,  as  the  Postmaster-General,  ir 
his  advocacy  of  the  scheme,  said,  that — 

“Experience  has  shovvn  that  in  the  post-office,  as  well  as  the  telegraph  service, 
every  decided  advance  in  the  way  of  adc’ed  facilities,  convenience,  and  cheapness 
has  found  an  immediate  response  from  the  public,  and  this  response  has  usually  been 
more  ready  and  pronounced  than  the  most  sanguine  exponents  of  the  ‘new  departure 
have  expected. 

“What  I am  after  is  to  extend  these  great  benefits  to  fifty-eight  and  three-fourths 
millions  of  the  people,  who,  it  is  said,  do  not  now  use  the  telegraph,  and  I want  tc 
do  it  without  causing  a deficit,  and  I l3elieve  I can  soon  prove  to  you  that  it  can  be 
done.  Pass  a bill  to  permit  the  Postmaster-General  to  contract  with  a telegraph 
company  now  organized  or  to  be  formed  for  this  purpose  and  the  post-office  will 
increase  its  business  largely  and  increase  its  receipts.” 

Let  us,  one  and  all,  work  for  the  postal  telegraph.  It  is  something  with  which 
party  bias  should  have  nothing  to  do. 


[Omaha  Bee,  May  18.] 

“ The  postal  telegraph  scheme  is  not  likely  to  get  much  beyond  the  committee-room 
during  the  present  session.  The  more  it  is  examined,  the  worse  it  appears.  No  news- 
paper man  who  knows  anything  of  the  methods  which  prevail  in  the  Government 
Departments  could  possibly  favor  it  if  he  consulted  his  own  interests.  Government 
supervision  would  mean  for  the  newspapers  an  exasperating  amount  of  red  tape,  pettj 
inconveniences,  and  insufferable  delays.” 

The  above  extract  from  the  Washington  correspondence  of  the  Springfield  (Mass.) 
Republican  does  not  speak  well  for  the  proverbial  intelligence  of  reporters  at  the 
national  capital.  No  newspaperman  who  knows  anything  about  the  methods  whicl^ 
prevail  in  the  present  telegraph  system  will  be  in  the  least  alarmed  over  the  proposed 
establishment  of  a postal  telegraph. 

The  leading  papers  of  the  country  either  have  their  leased  wires  exclusively  employed 
in  the  transmission  of  their  specials,  or  by  arrangement  with  the  telegraph  companies 
they  have  wires  in  their  offices  manned  by  operators  detailed  for  their  accommoda- 
tion. The  New  York,  the  Western  Associated  and  United  press  service  is  done  on 
leased  wires  and  manned  by  operators  directly  in  the  employ  of  the  respective  press 
associations.  In  Great  Britain,  where  the  postal  telegraph  has  been  in  successful 
operation  for  years,  the  press  fares  just  as  well  as  it  does  in  America.  The  great  Lon- 
don dailies  and  the  provincial  dailies  of  extensive  circulation  receive  their  dispatches 
over  wires  leased  at  reasonable  prices  from  the  Government,  and  while  it  is  true  that 
short  distances  and  perfect  mail  service  enables  them  to  receive  the  bulk  of  their  news 
by  post,  they  are  not  in  the  least  inconvenienced  by  Governmental  red-tape  so  far 
we  can  learn. 

But  as  a matter  of  fact  the  postal  telegraph  bills  now  pending  in  Congress,  and 
more  particularly  the  bill  favored  by  Postmaster-General  Wauamaker,  which  we 
print  in  full  elsewhere  in  this  issue,  do  not  contemplate  the  least  interference  with 
any  arrangement  or  contract  which  any  newspaper  or  press  association  may  have 
with  existing  telegraph  companies.  On  the  contrary,  section  11  of  this  bill  provides 
that  nothing  in  the  act  contained  shall  prevent  any  telegraph  company  from  per- 
forming business  for  the  public,  which  includes  the  newspapers,  the  same  as  is  now 
done,  the  only  restriction  being  that  tbe  company  doing  postal  telegraph  service 
shall  not  engage  directly  or  indirectly  in  the  sale  of  press  reports,  election  reports, 
market  quotations,  or  general  news,  or  be  interested  in  the  sale  of  such  reports,  quo- 
tations, or  news  by  reason  of  the  ownership  as  a company  of  stocks,  bonds,  or  securi- 
ties, or  tbrough  any  contract  or  arrangement  with  any  individual,  firm,  or  company 
engaged  in  such  sale  beyond  the  service  of  transmitting  such  reports,  quotations,  or 
news  in  the  form  of  telegrams  at  rates  which  shall  be  uniform  to  all  who  may  send 
such  telegrams. 

In  other  words,  the  telegraph  com])any  shall  be  exclusively  confined  to  the  func- 1 
tions  of  a luiblic  carrier  and  not  dabble  or  deal  in  commercial  news,  election  reports, 
and  quotations  in  speculative  stocks.  This  is  in  the  interest  of  the  press  as  well  as  1 
the  public.  But,  independent  of  all  selfish  or  mercenary  considerations,  it  is  the  duty  I 
of  the  press  to  favor  any  and  all  measures  that  tend  to  extend  to  the  people  at  large  1 
that  most  potential  agency  of  rapid  intercourse,  the  telegraph. 

While  we  should  prefer  to  have  the  Government  purchase  all  existing  commercial  ' 
lines  and  supplant  the  existing  telegra})h  monopoly  by  a telegraph  system  absolutely 
under  Governmental  control,  the  bil  l which  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  indorsed  will  go  far  j 
toward  giving  the  people  cheap  telegra]di  service,  and  very  much  increased  and  iin- , 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


75 


)roved  facilities.  If  the  bill  is  enacted  into  a law  every  carrier  delivery  post-office 
vill  be  a telegraph  office  and  a telegraph  money-order  office  within  three  years.  And 
;he  rates  will  be  within  the  reach  of  every  wageworker,  while  now  the  telegraph  is 
ilmost  exclusively  used  by  the  mercantile  class,  people  of  means,  gamblers  in  pred- 
icts and  stocks  and  sporting  men  generally. 

[Memphis  Democrat,  May  21.] 

The  newspapers  of  the  country  can  not  be  too  careful  in  taking  a position  regard- 
ng  the  scheme  to  establish  a system  of  postal  telegraph.  In  England  the  Govern- 
nent  has  for  a number  of  years  had  charge  of  such  a system,  and  there  is  just  as  much 
reason  why  it  should  transmit  telegraphic  communications  between  individuals  as 
vhy  it  should  transmit  their  letters.  We  understand  that  in  England  the  Go vern- 
nent  telegraph  is  of  great  benefit  to  the  people.  Rates  are  low,  and  all  newspapers 
■jhere  stand  on  equal  terms  in  regard  to  telegraph  tolls.  The  result  is  that  there  is 
dO  telegraph  monopoly  in  England,  and  such  an  organization  as  the  Associated  Press 
3an  not  be  used  to  further  the  interests  of  a monopoly  like  the  Western  Union.  The 
Associated  Press  is  popularly  supposed  to  be  a collection  of  newspapers  organized  for 
;he  purpose  of  heli)ing  each  other  to  get  the  news. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  for  such  an  organization  to  have  a management.  This 
nanagement  is  composed  practically  of  one  man,  who  is  elected  by  the  stockholders 
)f  the  association.  Now,  this  man  can  very  readily  have  an  understanding  with  Mr. 
Jay  Gould  or  his  representative,  by  which  the  interests  of  the  Western  Union  may  be 
ooked  after.  The  most  innocent  looking  telegram  sent  out  by  the  Associated  Press 
nay  be  “loaded.”  It  may  be  worth  a million  dollars  to  the  Western  Union.  The 
hundreds  of  weary  telegraph  editors  all  over  the  country  do  not  detect  the  scheme. 
Recently  the  management  of  tlie  Associated  Press  and  of  the  Western  Union  combined 
bo  get  from  a press  association  a condemnation  of  a Government  telegraph.  They 
JOt  it,  and  sent  it-flashing  over  the  wires  everywhere.  Under  a Government  system 
such  monopolistic  schemes  would  be  impossible.  The  newspapers  of  the  country, 
whether  they  are  in  the  Associated  Press  or  not,  should  think  twice  before  they  con- 
iemn  the  Government  telegraph. 

[Memphis  Commercial,  May  21.] 

We  direct  general  attention  to  the  speech  of  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  made  yesterday 
before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  in  opposition  to  the  pro- 
oosed  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph  system.  The  doctor  is  an  able  man,  and 
in  the  subject  of  telegraphy  has  no  superior  on  either  continent,  but  in  running 
munter  to  postal  telegraphy,  he  is  simply  kicking  against  the  pricks  and  trying  to 
stem  the  inevitable.  There  is  nothing  surer  than  that  the  Government,  in  an  exten- 
sion of  the  most  modern  facilities  to  the  people  for  intercommunication,  must  build 
lines  of  telegraph  or  absorb  those  of  the  Western  Union  Company  at  a reasonable 
rate  of  compensation.  Postal  telegraph  is  one  of  the  great  reforms  to  come  in  the 
near  future. 

[Denver  Eepublican,  May  21.] 

The  Postal  Telegraph  Company — which  is  the  same  as  the  Mackey  Company— -will 
reach  here  by  July  1,  This  is  good  news  for  the  people  of  Denver,  who  have  been 
laboring  so  long  in  bondage  to  the  Western  Union.  They  will  have  the  advantage 
of  competition  between  the  two  companies.  Even  if  this  does  not  cause  a reduction 
in  tolls,  it  will  cause  an  improvement  in  the  way  of  transacting  business.  The  West- 
ern Union  is  a monopoly  of  the  very  worst  kind.  Like  other  monopolies,  it  is  not 
particular  as  to  the  accommodations  it  furnishes  the  public  in  the  transaction  of 
business.  The  advent  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  ought  to  be  followed  by  a 
reduction  in  the  rates  on  telegrams.  The  rates  now  are  much  too  high.  The  busi- 
ness could  be  done  for  a great  deal  less  than  the  Western  Union  charges  for  it.  The 
Postal  Company  could  gain  many  friends  by  making  a cut  in  the  rates.  It  ought  to- 
mark  its  commencement  of  business  in  some  such  way  as  this. 

[Los  Angeles  Times,  May  22.]  ^ 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Times : 

Dr.  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  corporation,  says  we  can  not.  But  all  of  his  pre- 
decessors said  the  same  thing  every  time  a reduction  was  proposed  during  the  last 
thirty  years.  Yet  the  prices  went  down,  time  after  time,  and  still  there  was  money 
enough  in  the  business  for  dividends  on  its  stock,  watered,  though  it  was,  to  the 
amount  of  more  than  half  its  volume.  This  word  can’t  has  become  chronic,  so  to 
• peak,  in  the  dictionaries  of  the  telegraph  managers.  Its  use  was  commenced  by  two 
Congressmen  in  1843,  who  negatived  Morse’s  proposition  to  send  intelligence  over  a 


76 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


wire  a distpce  of  10  miles.  “ It  can’t  be  done/’  said  they,  and  they  voted  againsi 
the  asked-tor  subsidy  to  try  the  experiment.  Again,  after  Morse  had  proven  his  abil- 
ityto  transmit  intelligence  correctly  and  speedily,  and  offered  his  patent  and  com 
structed  line  to  the  Government  for  the  sum  of  $100,000.  the  Postmaster- General,  b^ 
order  of  Congress,  investigated  the  line  and  its  business,  and  reported  that  as  a con- 
of  intelligence  it  “can’t  be  made  to  pay  expenses.”  Later,  the  science  and  skill 
of  the  Western  Union  corporation  put  their  “can’t  be  done”  on  the  project  to  work 
a transatlantic  cable,  and  it  took  a dry-goods  merchant— Cyrus  W.  Field— to  show 
^TTT  professed  knowledge  was  simply  assumption.  And  it  is  to  be 
hoped  Mr.  Wanamaker  will  prove  another  Field  to  them,  and  demonstrate,  as  he  cer- 
tainly  will  if  an  opportunity  is  given,  that  a large  reduction  in  rates  can  be  made  and 
lines  still  be  self-supporting  it  the  money  earned  is  appropriated  solely  to  the  working 
cost  of  the  service.  x j s 

Let  me  cite  a few  burdens  the  paid  traffic  of  the  Western  Union  is  now  bearino-  to 
prove  that  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  proposition  has  more  than  working  expenses  in^it. 
rirstly,  I will  state  on  the  authority  of  a gentleman  long  in  the  employment  of  that 
company  that  fully  one-fourth  of  the  matter  passing  over  its  wires  pays  no  direct 
revenue— IS  dead-head,  as  the  craft  phrase  it.  The  corporation  has  contracts  with 
over  htty  railroad  companies,  and  the  business  of  said  railroads  is  either  done  entirely 
u ^ discount  of  50,  30,  or  20  per  cent.,  as  the  case  may  be.  In  our  own  State 

the  Western  Union  pays  the  Central  Pacific  and  leased  lines  $100,000  per  annum  and 
passes  the  correspondence  of  the  railroads  and  Wells,  Fargo  & Co.’s  express  free  in 
order  to  have  a nmnopoly  of  the  railroad  stations  and  wires.  These  are  burdens  a 
Government  line  traffic  would  not  have  to  bear. 

Secondly,  by  the  sale  of  stamped  message  blanks  an  immense  saving  of  clerical 
work  over  the  Western  Union  system  would  be  effected.  The  present  post-office 
stamp  clerks  would  have  all  the  money,  and  the  large  force  now  employed  in  the 
check-error”  department  of  the  telegraph  company  could  be  turned  over  to  more 
congenial  and  more  profitable  employments.  In  office  rents,  lights,  fuel,  and  inci- 
dentals there  would  also  be  large  savings.  Again,  in  the  saving  of  district  and  di- 
vision superintendents,  secretaries,  treasurers,  electricians  and  their  attaches,  a 
huge  out-go  would  be  stopped. 

Thirdly  and  lastly,  the  Western  Union  stock  is  said  to  be  about  $85,000,000,  and  the 
ITLa  n ^ noticed  declared  was  at  the  rate  of  5 per  cent.,  being  the  amount  of 
$4,250,000.  This  immense  amount  of  money  Mr.  Wanamaker  would  not  have  to  earn 
in  order  to  keep  his  project  afloat  should  he  be  fortunate  enough  to  launch  it  success- 
fully. 

I think  that  I have  made  it  plain  that  with  the  discontinuance  of  the  free  business 
and  corrupting  rebates  of  the  Western  Union  system,  and  the  further  saving  in  cleri- 
cal and  incidental  expenses,  which  would  be  made  by  uniting  the  offices  and  stopping 
4ihe  huge  dividend  maelstrom,  the  telegraph  business  would  be  self-supportino',  even 
with  a rate  reduction  of  even  50  per  cent,  on  present  charges.  This  is  a 'candid 
opinion  of  many  veterans  in  the  service,  and  in  it  I most  fully  concur. 

R.  R.  Haines. 

[Newburyport  (Mass.)  Herald,  May  22.  j 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  is  after  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s 
scalp  on  rates  of  tariff  for  Government  work.  The  Postmaster-General  seems  to  be 
having  the  best  of  the  fight. 


[Omaha  Bee,  May  22.] 

The  liberality  of  the  Western  Union  in  catering  to  the  public  is  singularly  unself- 
ish. With  almost  reckless  liberality  the  company  contributes  a two-column  serial 
through  the  Associated  Press,  without  money  and  without  price,  solely  to  prove  that 
Dr.  Norviu  Green,  president  of  the  company,  is  opposed  to  the  pokal  Telegraph. 
Of  course  he  is  not  moved  by  fear  of  competition,  because  he  assures  the  public 
that  Ihe  Western  Union  is  not  a monopoly.  It  is  the  political  danger  that  might 
follow  Government  control  that  thrills  the  soul  of  the  good  doctor  and  causes  him  to 
tremble  for  the  permanency  of  the  republic.  Such  patrifffism  deserves  to  beenibalmed  ' 
in  print,  and  the  doctor  is  determined,  so  long  as  he  controls  the  wires,  not  to  waste 
his  mental  sweetness  on  the  desert  air  of  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-n 
Roads,  but  publish  it  far  and  wide. 

[Scranton  Times,  May  23.] 

X 

The  Jacksonville  Times-Union,  in  opposing  the  postal-telegraph  bill  before  Con-^ 
gress,  exposes  the  weakness  of  the  argument  against  it  by  declaring  that  the  Gov-*, 
erumeut  should  be  intrusted  with  the  conduct  of  such  business,  as  it  has  been  uu-N 

i 


j 

1 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


77 


ible,  with  a century’s  experience,  to  make  the  postal  system  pay.  That  is  the  kind 
if  argument  that  is  generally  being  used  against  the  postal-telegraph  scheme,  and 
or  which,  no  doubt,  the  telegraph  monopoly  is  responsible.  But  the  facts  are  that 
he  postal  system  of  the  country  does  pay,  and  pays  well,  if  the  star  routes  be  ex- 
cepted and  the  expenses  of  free  delivery  at  offices  which  do  not  have  a business  to 
'^arrant  such  expense. 

In  order  to  secure  patronage  in  their  districts  the  Congressmen  have  extended  the 
ree-delivery  system  to  hundreds  of  small  villages  in  the  United  States  which  do  not 
lave  postal  revenues  sufficient  to  pay  for  the  carriers.  Pliring  carriers  to  deliver 
etters  in  a town  that  does  not  have  a gross  postal  revenue  of  $10,000  does  not  fur- 
lish  any  argument  that  the  postal  business  of  the  Government  will  not  pay.  Nor 
oes  the  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars  on  star  routes  in  Territories  where  there 
<re  no  inhabitants  for  50  miles  at  a stretch  offer  a legitimate  argument  against 
lovermental  control  of  the  post-office.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  postal  rates 
,re  constantly  being  lowered,  and  that  the  Department  is  managed  in  accordance 
vi^h  the  laws  which  direct  the  extension  of  the  free-delivery  system  and  the  star 
outes  and  other  such  things  which  call  for  large  expenditures.  All  this  has  nothing 

0 do  with  the  postal-telegraph  system.  It  is  not  proposed  to  extend  that  to  the  star- 
oute  offices.  The  postal  business  in  the  large  cities  pays  a large  revenue  to  the 
Jovernment.  In  this  city  the  net  annual  revenue  amounts  to  nearly  $40,00i'.  The 
imited  postal-telegraph  scheme  proposed  in  Congress  would  no  doubt  add  largely  to 
his  revenue,  while  at  the  same  time  giving  the  people  cheap  telegraphing  without 
he  necessity  of  paying  dividends  on  “ watered  ” stock.  But  the  telegraiih  monopoly 
3 hard  at  work  to  defeat  such  legislation,  and  it  will  no  doubt  succeed. 

[Lynn  (Mass.)  Item,  May  23.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  claims  that  Post- 
aaster-General  Wanamaker  is  making  unreasonable  demands.  The  general  public 
pinion,  however,  is  that  the  movement  for  lower  rates  of  service  for  the  Government 
3 simply  a justitiable  resistance  against  extortion.  This  is  not  the  first  instance  in 
ehich  Wanamaker  has  aroused  enmity  by  his  earnest  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  interests 
f the  National  Government. 

[St.  Louis  Star- Sayings,  May  31.] 

A writer  in  the  Forum  reviews  the  experience  of  the  English  people  under  goveru- 
leut  control  of  the  telegraph  since  July  31,  1868,  when  Parliament  passed  a bill  ‘^to 
nable  the  postmaster-general  to  acquire,  work,  and  maintain  electric  telegrai)hs.” 

He  shows  that  notwithstanding  the  enormously  high  price  which  the  Government 
aid  to  the  corporations — it  was  at  the  rate  of  $416  per  mile  of  wire,  and  the  French 
rovernraent  practically  duplicated  such  a plant  for  its  own  use  at  $66  a mile — the 
luglish  people  are  satisfied  with  their  bargain. 

The  tolls  under  public  control  have  become  the  lowest  in  the  world.  The  service 

1 marked  by  high  efficiency  in  all  its  departments,  “There  has  never,”  says  the 
writer,  “ been  even  the  slightest  intimation  that  the  telegraph  is  used  for  political 
urposes  or  the  slightest  fear  on  the  part  of  the  people  that  their  secrets  are  not  safe 
rith  the  Government.” 

“The  public,”  he  continues,  “ look  back  with  surprise  on  the  time  when  the  claim 
^as  made  that  the  business  could  be  better  conducted  by  private  enterprises  than  by 
he  Government.” 

He  then  points  out  that  the  new  order  of  things  has  been  of  vast  benefit  to  the 
ewspaper  press,  that  such  a thing  as  raonopolj'^  in  news  is  impossible  under  the 
Inglish  system,  and  that  the  country  press  has  the  use  of  telegraphic  service  which 
ould  never  in  point  of  completeness  have  been  attained  under  private  or  monopo- 
stic  control  of  the  telegraph. 

The  experience  of  a people  to  whom  we  are  so  closely  allied,  aud  with  whom  we 
ave  so  much  in  common,  in  so  important  a means  of  intercommunication  as  the  tele- 
raph,  amounts  almost  to  a conclusion,  and  the  time  is  not  far  off  when  American 
batesmen,  without  regard  to  party,  will  give  the  proposition  to  put  the  telegraph  in 
he  same  category  with  the  mails  their  earnest  attention. 

It  is  a fit  and  timely  subject  for  Congressional  discussion  and  action,  if  there  ever 
ras  one,  aud  the  public  will  watch  the  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Government  to 
et  control  of  the  telegraph  business  very  much  in  the  light  of  a trial  of  strength  be- 
ween  itself  aud  one  of  the  biggest  monopolies  in  the  world. 

[Boston  Traveller,  June  4.] 

Mr.  Bronson  C.  Keeler  contributes  to  the  June  Forum  a most  interesting  article  on 
he  topic  of  Government  telegraphy,  and  presents  what  is  certainly  a strong  if  not  a 
onvinciug  argument  in  its  favor.  At  the  very  beginning  he  adroitly  calls  attention 


78 


POSTAL  TELEGKAPH  FACILITIES. 


to  the  fact  that  China  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  in  which  the  postal  service  is 
conducted  hy  private  enterprise,  while  the  United  States  is  about  the  only  country 
where  the  tele^jraph  serAuce  is  so  conducted.  As  regards  tolls,  Denmark,  Switzerland, 
Belgium,  and  Great  Britain  are  about  the  only  European  countries  where  rates  are 
materially  less  than  in  the  United  States,  those  m Germany  being,  all  things  con- 
sidered, a trifle  higher;  while  in  France  and  Italy  they  are  about  the  same  as  here. 
In  most  of  the  European  countries  the  Government  has  controlled  the  telegraph  serv- 
ice from  the  beginning,  and  Great  Britain  alone  is  able  to  furnish  the  United  States 
much  light  in  the  solution  of  the  problem  that  confronts  it.  Prior  to  1868  telegraph 
service  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  supplied  by  a number  of  competing  companies, 
which  charged  rates  varying  from  24  to  48  cents,  according  to  distance,  for  messages 
of  twenty  words  or  less.  When  the  Government  took  possession  of  the  roads  the  rates 
were  at  once  made  uniform,  24  cents,  and  the  service  was  greatly  extended.  Mr. 
Keeler  emphasizes  the  fact  that,  in  spite  of  this  reduction  and  extension,  the  Govern- 
ment has  done  the  business  at  a profit  aggregating  in  twenty  years  $12,000,000.  But 
England  made  a bad  bargain  when  it  purchased  its  telegraph  system.  It  paid 
$32,000,000  for  77,000  miles  of  wire,  which  had  cost  the  companies  but  $11,000,000,  and 
could  have  been  duplicated  for  $8,000  000.  In  France,  where  the  Government  con- 
structed its  own  lines,  they  cost  less  than  one-sixth  as  much  per  mile  as  the  English 
Government  paid. 

Whether  or  not  Mr.  Keeler  overstates  the  extent  to  which  the  British  taxpayers 
were  defrauded  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  the  fraud  was  enormous.  The  result  of 
this  has  been  that  the  interest  ou  the  purchase  has  in  twenty  years  amounted  to 
$17,000,000  more  than  the  profit  arising  from  the  business.  Mr.  KeleeFs  argument  in 
favor  of  the  purchase  by  our  Government  of  existing  telegraph  lines  would  be  stronger 
could  it  be  guarantied  that  our  Government  would  not  make  the  same  mistakes  which 
England  has  made.  We  might  buy  the  existing  telegraph  lines  on  better  terms  than 
did  England,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether,  with  our  present  financial  and  civil-service 
system,  we  could  operate  them  as  cheaply  as  England  operates  hers.  It  is  to  be 
wished  that  we  might  try  the  experiment  in  postal  telegraphy  proposed  by  Postmaster- 
General  Wauamaker  first.  We  might  find  in  such  experiment  the  key  which  will 
successfully  solve  the  whole  telegraph  problem.  ; 

[New  York  Standard,  June ,4.] 

The  only  thing  that  now  stands  in  the  way  of  the  House  Post-Office  Committee  report^ 
ing  in  the  important  matter  of  the  postal  telegraph  is  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Norvin 
Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  There  has  been  much 
delay  over  this.  Dr.  Green  has  requested  to  be  heard,  and  yet  has  sent  many  excuses 
for  non-appearance  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  when  the  committee  meets,  until 
patience  is  about  exhausted,  and  the  president  of  the  great  corporation  will  be  given^ 
to  understand  that  he  must  send  his  testimony  in  writing  if  he  can  not  personallyr 
appear.  * ' 

Dr.  Green’s  whole  opposition  seems  to  be  centered  on  the  Wanamaker  bill,  which,  as; 
before  described,  authorizes  the  Postmaster-General  to  “ enter  into  a contract  witU 
responsible  parties  to  connect  a certain  number  of  post-offices  with  each  other  for 
telegraphic  purposes  by  leased  wires  and  instruments,  to  be  operated  by  post-office  em- 
ployes, to  carry  messages  for  the  Government  and  for  the  people.”  The  other  bills — 
Representative  Taylor’s,  based  on  the  English  system,  and  providing  for  the  building 
or  purchase  of  lines;  RepresentatiA^e  Wade’s,  looking  to  the  establishment  of  a complete 
Government  system  without  reference  to  existing  lines,  and  Representative  Anderson’s, 
supplying  $10,000,000  for  the  equipment  of  a Government  system — appear  to  have  no 
chance  of  passage.  All  the  opposition  is  concentrated  against  the  plan  of  the  Post- 
master-General. It  may  be  to  compromise  with  this  opposition  that  the  bill  has  twice 
been  changed,  and  that  a third  bill  is  now  about  to  be  offered  as  a substitute  for  the 
others.  It  is  declared,  however,  that  the  changes  are  improvements,  and  thatthe  bill 
is  much  strengthened.  Although  it  really  takes  but  a short,  timid  step  toward  Gov-' 
ernment  ownership  and  control  of  a complete  telegraph  system,  yet  it  is  seen  to  be  the 
entering  wedge  and  excites  all  the  hostility  that  a bill  going  further  would  rouse.’ 
The  bill  simply  proposes  to  give  the  Government  telegraph  business  out  at  contract,, 
just  as  the  carriage  of  the  mails  is  contracted  for  with  various  trausportation  lines — 
it  being  observed,  however,  that  the  wires  are  to  run  into  the  post-offices  and  that] 
the  operators  are  to  be  Government  employes.  But  though  a good  deal  of  public' 
interest  has  been  awakened  in  the  project,  it  is  doubtful  if  special  interests  are  not 
more  active  and  therefore  more  potent.  It  is  a question  if  the  little  finger  of  the' 
Western  Union  corporation  is  not  more  powerful  than  the  people’s  waist. 

Politicians  liaAm  been  snuffed  out  before  for  raising  their  Amices  against  the  corpora-.^ 
tion,  and  they  can  be  as  quietly  and  completely  snuffed  out  to-day.  Never  was  thej 
corporation  so  poAverful.  It  is  only  necessary  to  go  into  a man’s  district  and  take’ 
away  from  him  a few  of  his  chief  supporters.  It  is  said  to  be  in  some  such  way  that 

4 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


79 


Charles  A.  Snmuer,  of  California,  who  made  such  a vigorous  fight  for  a Government 
elegraph  system  during  th^  Forty-sixth  Congress,  and  A.  J.  Warner,  of  Marietta, 
|)hio,  who  came  later,  were  not  permitted  to  come  back  to  Washington,  so  that  those 
vho  move  in  this  matter  in  Congress  know  that  they  have  much  to  fear  from  a most 
)Owerful  and  subtle  enemy.  A strong  lobby  is  here  working  in  defense  of  the  West- 
jru  Union,  and  in  its  ranks  are  said  to  be  Colonel  Dudley,  of  “ blocks  of  five  ’’fame, 
ind  ex-Senator  Joe  McDonald,  of  Indiana. 

I am  assured  on  the  best  of  authority  that  Mr.  Wanamaker  is  ambitious  to  become 
me  of  the  great  Postmaster-Generals,  and  is  throwing  his  whole  energy  into  the  work 
»f  his  Department  with  a view  to  making  all  the  improvement  possible.  His  repu- 
ation  he  hopes  to  make  on  four  cardinal  improvements,  the  first  of  which  is  the  pos- 
al  telegraph,  concerning  which,  I am  told,  he  entertains  very  radical  views.  If  he 
8 successful  in  this  he  will  next  try  to  have  the  mails  closed  to  the  Louisiana  and 
►ther  lotteries,  and  after  that  hopes  for  the  adoption  of  postal  savings  banks  and  the 
ntrodnction  of  penny  postage.  It  will  not  be  long  now  before  the  House  Post-Office 
Committee  makes  its  report  and  the  open  war  begins. 

[Memphis  Democrat,  June  6.] 

The  Postmaster-General’s  postal-telegraph  scheme  certainly  deserves  the  hearty 
indorsement  of  all  people  who  would  like  to  see  an  equalization  of  telegrai)h  tolls. 

[Erie  Dispatch,  June  10.] 

Among  the  important  projects  under  consideration  by  Congress  the  scheme  to  estab- 
isn  a postal  telegraph  is  not  the  least.  Three  bills  have  been  introduced  in  the 
iouse,  but  the  one  most  likely  to  secure  attention  is  draughted  in  accordance  with 
Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  suggestions  and  ideas.  His  plan  is  not,  as  has  been 
requently  stated,  to  purchase  or  control  existing  lines,  but  to  utilize  them  in  the 
lervice  of  the  public,  just  as  the  Post-Office  now  uses  railroads  and  steam-boats  through 
ts  contracts  for  mail  service. 

Of  course  the  Western  Union  Company  is  strongly  opposed  to  the  postal-telegraph 
icheme,  as  it  would  interfere  seriously  with  the  enormous  profits  of  that  great  corpora- 
ion.  But  the  people’s  interests  in  the  question  are  first  to  be  considered,  and  there 
8 no  doubt  that  a great  preponderance  of  public  sentiment  is  in  favor  of  the  project, 
dr.  Wanamaker  has  given  the  subject  much  study,  and  this  bill,  as  modified  by  the 
jommittee,  ought  to  be  reported  and  passed  into  a law  at  the  present  session.  There 
lave  been  delays  enough  in  the  matter  and  the  public  are  getting  impatient  to  have 
omething  practical  accomplished. 

[Memphis  Democrat,  June  10.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  taken  up  the  project  of  a Government  tele- 
graph, and  two  bills  looking  to  this  result  have  been  introduced  in  Congress. 

There  are  objections  to  this  plan,  but  there  are,  as  we  conceive,  unanswerable  ar- 
guments in  its  favor,  and  the  people  should  be  put  in  possession  of  the  merits  of  the 
lase. 

The  objections  urged  to  it  are  that  it  is  an  interference  with  a private  enterprise ; 
hat  telegraph  tolls  will  not  be  as  cheap  as  they  are  now ; that  a telegraph  system 
vill  cost  a tremendous  amount  of  money  and  will  run  the  Government  in  debt ; and 
hat  it  will  be  turned  into  a political  machine. 

None  of  the  these  objections  will  hold  good  as  against  the  facts.  If  it  is  legitimate 
or  Jay  Gould  to  crush  out  a rival  telegraph  company  by  competition,  it  is  just  as 
egitimate  for  the  people  to  crush  out  Mr.  Gould’s  Western  Union  monopoly.  As  to 
he  price  of  tolls,  it  costs  more  per  word  to  send  a telegram  in  the  United  States  than 
ilmost  any  country  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  and  the  United  States  is  the  only  country 
)f  any  importance  where  the  telegraph  is  not  conducted  by  the  Government.  Out- 
lide  of  the  United  States  and  Canada,  95  per  cent,  of  the  telegraph  of  the  world  is 
inder  Government  control,  and  in  England,  France,  Russia,  Belgium,  Austria,  and 
>ther  countries,  the  telegraph  is  considered  just  as  much  within  the  province  of  the 
Government  as  the  postal  service. 

England  unfortunately  bought  out  half  a dozen  telegraph  companies  at  an  exorbi- 
ant  price,  and  also  paid  them  for  their  estimated  profits  for  twenty  years  or  more. 
There  is  no  particular  reason  why  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  treat  Mr. 
lay  Gould  in  this  considerate  way.  He  has  never  refrained  from  crushing  any  small 
ival  that  stood  in  his  way.  The  United  States  Government  can  easily  crush  the 
iV estern  Union,  or  buy  up  its  property  at  a reasonable  price. 

As  for  the  political  argument,  that  is  the  most  serious  yet  advanced;  but  even 
iursed  as  it  is  with  politics,  the  postal  service  of  the  country  is  more  satisfactory  than 
t could  be  if  controlled  by  a private  corporation  ; and  there  has  been  no  trouble  about 


80 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


the  telegraph  system  in  England  from  a political  stand-point.  The  steady  advance  c 
civil-service  reform  in  this  country  will  offset  any  movement  to  convert  the  telegrap 
system  into  a political  machine. 

[St.  Louis  Star-Sayings,  June  11.1 

In  his  efforts  to  break  down  the  telegraph  monopoly  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  an( 
the  Government,  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  making  good  use  of  the  busines 
sense  that  has  made  him  so  successful  in  private  affairs.  The  people  feel  convince( 
that  the  telegraph  nionopoiy  and  certain  personal  influences  that  control  it  are  in 
imical  to  their  best  interests.  It  has  grown  to  overshadowing  proportions  bv  a ra 
pacity  which  no  government  on  earth,  save  ours,  would  tolerate.  It  has  laid  ai 
e^argo  on  the  news  of  the  day,  and  in  this  way  has  made  it  a matter  of  exceeding 
difnculty  for  newspapers  remote  from  the  great  news  centers  to  get  a foot-hold.  Th( 
recent  discussion  on  the  comparative  prices  of  telegraphic  service  under  monopolisth 
and  Government  control  has  served  the  important  purpose  of  convincing  newspape: 
readers  that  the  people  of  these  United  States  pay  too  dearly  for  an  enterprise  whicl 
their  native  intelligence  and  love  of  information  have  fostered. 

Although  the  telegraph  business  in  this  country  has  expanded  in  a manner  eutireb 
unprecedented,  when  the  distances  to  be  traversed  and  a scattered  population  are 
taken  into  consideration,  it  is  to-ciay  still  in  its  infancy.  The  extent  of  its  business 
at  the  present  rate  of  increase  can  only  be  conjectured.  But  taking  into  account  th( 
wonderful  development  of  our  country  and  the  daily  increasing  demands  upon  the 
improved  means  of  intercommunication,  it  is  entirely  safe  to  say  that  the  close  of  the 
present  century  will  see  an  increase  of  the  telegraphic  business,  which  will  cause  ite 
present  state  to  appear  insignificant  in  comparison. 

It  has  been  the  proud  boast  of  the  Republican  party  that  it  is  opposed  to  monopolies 

In  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  present  endeavor  to  establish  a postal  telegraph  as  an  entering 
wedge  toward  governmental  control  of  the  telegraphic  business,  the  party  has  g 
chance  to  make  its  vaunting  good. 

The  great  mass  of  the  people  are  with  the  party  in  this  endeavor.  The  country' 
press  is  with  the  Postmaster-General.  His  every  attempt  to  break  down  the  monopoly 
in  news  and  in  the  means  of  distributing  it  will  receive  the  unstinted  praise  of  the 
newspapers  in  all  the  interior  towns  throughout  the  country.  Where  they  remain 
silent  they  will  do  so  for  party  reasons,  and  that  in  itself  will  be  an  indorsement.  ' 

Let  the  good  work  go  on  of  compelling  the  telegraph  monopoly  to  a more  liberal 
policy,  or  tailing  in  that,  let  all  Republicans  unite  in  aiding  their  party  and  the  pres- 
ent administration  in  breaking  down  that  monopoly. 

It  is  an  undertaking  worthy  of  the  Government,  the  people,  and  the  party. 

[Conshockton  ( Pa. ) Recorder,  June  13.  J •! 

The  House  Committee  on  Post-Office  have  under  consideration  a postal  telegraph] 
This  provides  for  the  sending  of  cheap  messages  by  wire  by  the  Post-Office  Department’ 
ot  the  Government.  This  is  a step  towards  Government  control  of  telegraph,  and  a 
blow  at  one  of  the  greatest  monopolies  in  the  country. 

[‘‘Iron  Port,”  E.scambia,  Mich.,  June  14.1 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  pressing  his  scheme  for  postal  telegraphy,  and 
with  some  prospect  of  success.  His  plan  is  so  framed  as  to  avoid  the  great  objection 
to  other  plans — that  of  employment  by  the  United  States  of  an  army  of  operators — as 
it  proposes  to  collect  and  deliver  merely,  leaving  the  transmission  to  be  done  by  cou-^ 
tract,  as  the  mails  are  carried.  It  is  not  satisfactory  to  us  for  that  very  reason,  but'® 
we  hope  it  may  succeed  in  Congress,  for  we  hold  it  inevitable  that,  once  embarked  ih‘ 
the  business  to  the  extent  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  the  rest  will  follow ; and  we] 
hold,  further,  that  the  only  hope  (at  least  for  many  years)  of  any  advance  in  the] 
methods  of  transmission  lies  in  the  assumption  of  the  whole  business  by  the  Govern- 
ment. The  Morse  system  has  been  developed  to  its  utmost  capacity,  and  it  and  allj 
the  systems  which  make  use  of  characters  requiring  translatiou  by  the  operative  are] 
in  that  respect  crude  and  unsatisfactory.  The  line  of  progress  is  in  the  direction  of| 
facsimile  transmission,  and  only  when  that  is  made  rapid  enough  to  meet  the  demands 
of  business  can  the  miiiinum  of  cost  and  the  maximum  of  security  be  achieved.  This 
the  established  companies,  with  their  huge  plants,  which  would  be  rendered  obsolete,' 
and  their  patents,  which  would  be  rendered  valueless,  do  not  try  to  bring  abont,  but 
this  would  naturally  be  the  aim  of  the  United  States  Government.  The  ingenuity  of 
electricians  is  sufficient  for  the  task  if  the  reward  were  sufficient  to  set  it  at  work;  so" 
long  as  it  is  not,  they  will  work  at  motors  and  lighting  devices  and  dolls. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


81 


[Portland  (Me.)  Express,  June  19.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  by  no  means  abandoned  his  idea  of  a postal 
;elegraph,  and  has  been  iuA^estigating  the  operations  of  a printing  telegraph  company 
svhich  is  operating  a wire  betwen  New  York  and  Boston,  a description  of  which  has 
ilready  appeared  in  the  Express.  The  system  is  that  of  transmitting  printed  char- 
icters.  In  other  words,  by  the  operation  of  a typewriting  machine  in  connection  with 
bhe  wire  in  Boston  a similar  machine  in  New  York  prints  out  the  messages.  At  all 
;he  connecting  points  messages  can  be  sent  in  the  same  way.  It  is  in  brief  an  electrical 
;ypewriter,  by  means  of  which  the  message  is  printed  in  the  presence  of  the  transmit- 
;ing  operator,  and  a duplicate  of  the  same  is  printed  at  all  receiving  stations  on  the 
ine.  The  Postmaster-General  expressed  the  0[)inion  that  it  would  be  just  the  thing 
br  the  working  of  a limited  postal  telegraph  scheme  such  as  he  proposed.  The  de- 
aiand  for  a postal  telegraph  would  become  universal  were  its  objects  and  aims  fully 
explained  to  the  public,  but  the  great  telegraph  monopolies  of  the  country,  backed  by 
die  Bell  telephone  people,  are  endeavoring  to  crush  out  any  desire  on  the  part  of  the 
;)ublic  for  such  a service.  It  is  a contest  of  monopoly  for  existence,  and  the  public 
vill  surely  sympathize  with  the  Postmaster-General  in  the  long  run.  Postal  teleg- 
•aphy  may  be  defeated  for  a time,  but  it  will  eventually  be  triumphant. 

The  reasons  that  gave  rise  to  the  Government  control  of  the  mail  service  are  equally 
ipplicable  to  a Government  postal  telegraph  service.  The  pressure  of  business  to- 
lay  necessitates  the  rapid  communication  between  the  business  men  of  one  city  and 
ihe  business  men  of  another.  Even  our  improved  railway  mail  service,  with  its 
jorps  of  trained  employes,  its  moving  post-offices,  and  its  means  of  rapid  transit,  is 
iltogether  too  slow  for  the  practical,  and  yet  necessarily  hurried  interchange  of  in- 
formation regarding  the  business  conditions  in  markets  liable  to  such  sudden  changes. 

An  order  frequently  has  to  be  countermanded  by  wire,  and  the  telegraph  to-day  is 
relied  upon  as  one  of  the  most  necessary  adjuncts  to  a successful  business  career, 
fhe  telegraph  companies  furnish  fairly  reliable  service,  yet  it  must  be  remembered 
that  they  are  corporations  run  in  the  interests  of  their  stockholders,  with  the  view  of 
)btaining  from  the  public  the  largCvSt  possible  returns  upon  tlmir  investments  with 
he  least  possible  expenditure.  Our  experience  with  railroads,  as  a well-known 
vriter  has  said,  “has  shown  what  we  might  expect  from  private  affairs  of  this  kind — 
unsteadiness  and  diserrmination  of  rates  and  development  of  competing  and  favored 
Doints  at  the  expense  of  others.”  The  mail  service  was  designed  to  promote  and  eu- 
arge  business  and  social  communication.  The  Post-Office  Department  has  done  and 
8 doing  a wonderful  work,  and  its  railway  trains  and  fast  lines  of  steamboats  are 
;reat  improvements  upon  the  mail  coaches  and  the  packets  of  a few  generations  ago, 
ind  yet  they  are  as  much  behind  the  rapid  progress  and  demands  of  business  as  the 
nail  coaches  and  sailing-vessels  of  our  grandfathers  were  behind  our  present  system 
:)f  transmission  of  the  mails.  The  Post-Office  Department  should  be  equipped  to-day 
io  do  the  busii  ess  of  to-day  after  the  necessities  of  to-day. 

^ The  far-seeing  business  man  now  at  the  head  of  the  Post-Office  Department  realizes 
his  fact,  and  in  the  face  of  adverse  criticism  and  strong  opposition,  he  is  quietly,but 
bone  the  less  effectively,  pushing  his  views  to  the  front.  Postal  telegraph  will  con- 
fiiuue  to  grow  in  importance.  In  fact,  in  many  European  countries,  the  telegraph 
fom  the  beginning  was  developed  in  connection  with  the  post-office,  and  for  the  past 
fwenty-one  years  in  England,  the  telegraph  has  been  under  the  control  of  the  postal 
lepartment. 

Nor  is  the  business  side  alone  to  be  considered.  It  is  estimated  that  in  this  coun- 
ry,  so  high  are  the  rates  of  telegraphy,  that  business  communications  form  9b  per 
ent.  of  the  business  of  the  telegraph  companies  and  the  social  messages  but  5 per 
ient.,  while  in  Great  Britain  the  social  messages  occupy  a very  much  larger  propor- 
ion  in  the  returns.  Under  Government  control,  with  lower  rates  for  telegraphy,  the 
ocial  messages  would  soon  become  an  important  feature  of  the  telegraph  business. 
^ostmaster-General  Wanamaker  can  not  be  too  strongly  supported  in  his  efforts  to 
obtain  such  a service  for  the  people  of  this  country. 

[Newark  (N.  J.)  Journal,  June  19.] 

i Dr.  Norvin  Green,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  is  very 
•unctilious  about  the  rights  of  property  and«the  wrong  of  invading  them  in  any  way 
vhen  the  interests  of  his  mammoth  corporation  are  at  stake.  The  proposition  in 
Congress  for  a postal  telegraph  for  the  use  of  the  Government  he  yegards  as  simple 
onliscation  of  Western  Union  rights. 

“ What  government  under  the  sun,”  he  says  “has  ever  established  a postal  tele- 
;raph  without  first  taking  and  paying  for,  at  a fair  and  full  valuation,  all  existing 
elegraph  properties,  where  there  were  any  ? If  the  Government  must  have  a tele- 
;raph  as  part  of  the  postal  service,  why  not  take  existing  properties  rather  than 
reate  a new  company  backed  by  the  power  and  support  of  the  Government,  to  dam- 
.ge  and  destroy  the  old  ones.” 

P T 6 


82 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


There  are  two  corporations  in  this  country  that  have  grown  and  fattened  into 
colossal  proportions  upon  spoliation  of  other  people’s  property.  They  are  the  Stand- 
ard Oil  Company  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  The  property  of  the 
latter,  which  consists'mainly  of  poles  and  wires,  nas  been  paid  for  a hundred  times 
over  by  extortion.  The  public  is  to-day  paying  dividends  on  tens  of  millions  of 
stock  water  that  doesn’t  represent  a penny  of  investment. 

If  Dr.  Norvin  Green  and  the  owners  of  the  Western  Union  could  be  capable  of  an 
honest  act  they  would  make  some  restitution  of  their  ill-gotten  wealth  by  surrender-  . 
iug  their  property  and  franchise  to  the  United  States  Government,  to  be  used  for  the 
benefit  of  a long-swindled  people. 

[ Pittsburgh  Times,  June  20.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  for  some  time  been  considering  with  great 
favor  the  type-writing  machine  in  connection  with  the  postal  telegraph.  There  is  a 
line  of  the  kind  in  Boston.  It  is  an  electrical  type- writer,  by  means  of  which  the 
message  is  printed  in  the  presence  of  the  transmitting  operator  and  a duplicate  of  the 
same  is  printed  at  All  the  receiving  stations  on  the  line.  It  does  not  seem  probable 
that  Congress  will  act  on  the  postal  telegrai>h  question.  The  reason  given  is  that 
‘Hhere  is  no  public  demand  for  it.”  That  is  what  Ja}’^  Gould  has  always  said,  and  will 
ever  say. 

[Trenton  State  Gazette,  June  21.] 

Among  the  bills  pending  before  this  Congress  in  which  the  people  of  the  whole 
countr^’^  are  deeply  interested,  is  that  providing  for  the  establishment  of  postal  teleg- 
raphy. There  has  been  a desultory  discussion  of  this  subject  in  the  press  by  boards 
of  trade,  and  before  Congressional  committees,  but  it  is  yet  only  vaguely  understood 
by  the  general  public.  Indeed,  comparatively  few  people  have  a clear  and  distinct 
conception  of  exactly  what  it  is  that  the  Government  proposes  to  undertake  in  giv- 
ing the  country  a system  of  postal  telegraphy. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  not  proposed,  as  some  imagine,  for  the  Government  to  go 
into  the  telegraph  business  itself.  It  does  not  contemplate  the  purchase  of  telegraph  ' 
lines  or  the  erection  of  new  ones.  It  simply  proposes  to  use  the  present  lines  for  the 
transmission  of  the  messages  intrusted  to  it  by  the  people,  just  as  it  now  uses  the 
railroads  and  other  public  vehicles  for  the  conveyance  of  the  letters,  postal  cards,  ‘ 
newspapers,  and  other  mail  matter  placed  in  its  hands  by  the  people  for  delivery. 
The  National  Government  does  not  own  a single  vehicle  for  the  transmission  of  its 
enormous  mail  matter.  It  makes  contracts  with  the  owners  of  such  vehicles  for 
carrying  it.  It  proposes  to  do  the  same  for  the  transmission  of  postal  telegrams. 

And  the  service  will  be  performed  at  the  post-offices  by'"  the  present  employes,  with 
the  possible  addition  of  a very^  few  additional  clerks  at  some  of  the  larger  offices. 
The  bill  i^rovides  for  the  establishment  of  postal  telegraph  stations  at  all  post-offices  - 
where  the  free- delivery  system  now  exists,  between  four  and  five  hundred  in  num- 
ber. The  rates  are  fixed  at  10  cents  for  messages  of  twenty  words  or  less  within  the  ■ 
State;  25  cents  for  any  distance  under  1,500  miles,  and  50  cents  for  any  greater  dis-  ' 
tance. 

That  the  people  of  this  country  would  hail  the  adoption  of  this  system  with  great 
satisfaction  can  not  be  doubted.  Nothing  in  the  history  of  Government  activities  ; 
has  proven  so  uniformly  popular  as  the  increase  and  cheapening  of  postal  facilities 
to  the  people.  Every  reduction  of  rates  has  been  followed  by  a more  than  commen- 
surate increase  in  business.  Every  new  facility  added  has  at  once  been  eagerly 
availed  of  by  the  public.  The  reduction  of  letter  postage  from  3 to  2 cents  ; increase 
in  the  unit  of  weight  from  a half  ounce  to  an  ounce,  and  the  reduction  from  2 to  1 
cent  per  pound  on  second-class  matter,  all  seemed  like  hazardous  and  reckless  liber- 
ality ; but  while  they  entailed  more  loss  of  revenue  on  the  start,  the  large  and  steady 
increase  of  business  which  they  caused  very  soon  brought  about  recovery.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  postal  telegraiihy  would  result  in  a similar  experience.  The  experi- 
ence of  Great  Britain  proves  it.  Before  that  country  adopted  postal  telegraphy  we 
sent  more  telegrams  per  capital  than  she  did.  Now,  under  postal  ^telegraphy,  Great 
Britain  sends  uearl.y  two  telegrams  per  capita  to  our  one.  It  is  among  the  most  pop- 
ular and  cherished  institutions  of  the  British  Empire.  Of  course-  it  would  be  the 
same  here.  Congress  will  make  a mistake  if  it  fails  to  give  this  country  postal  teleg-  • 
rap  by. 

^ [Omaha  Eepublican,  June  21] 

“ But,”  argues  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  “ if  the  Government  must  have  a telegraph  as 
part  of  the  postal  service,  why  not  take  existing  properties  rather  than  create  a new 
com{)any,  backed  by  the  power  and  support  of  the  Government,  to  damage  and  destroy 
the  old  ones  ? ” 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


83 


I Dr.  Green  should  have  added,  at  our  own  price.  ” This  is  the  reason  the  Govern- 
ment does  not  wish  to  purchase  existing  telegraph  property.  A transfer  of  this  kind 
could  not  be  consummated  without  a gigantic  steal.  If  the  Western  Union  telegraph 
company  is  really  frightened  let  it  make  a straight  business  proposition  to  the  Gov- 
ernment. 

[Denver  Eepublican,  June  22.]  * 

' The  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  has  postponed  the  further 
consideration  of  the  postal  telegraph  bill  until  next  session.  Possibly,  owing  to  the 
lateness  of  the  session,  this  action  was  advisable.  But  the  postal  telegraph  subject 
should  not  be  permitted  to  die. 

The  Washington  Post  in  discussing  the  subject  of  a postal  telegraph,  the  other  day’ 
opposed  it  on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  a s tep  in  the  line  of  paternalism  in  the 
government.  If  it  is  proper  fur  the  government  to  take  charge  of  everything  legiti- 
mately coming  within  the  scope  of  the  postal  service,  then  the  adoption  of  a pcTstal 
telegraph  system  would  not  be  a step  toward  paternalism.  The  paternal  theory  of 
government  is  essentially  erroneous  and  it  should  receive  no  encouragement  in  the 
United  States.  But  it  is  recognized,  in  almost  every  country  of  the  world  that  the 
aandling  of  the  mail  is  properly  the  work  of  the  government,  and  the  postal  tele- 
graph would  be  as  legitiniately  a part  of  the  postal  service  as  the  handling  of  letters 
ind  newspapers. 

Another  objection  which  has  been  made  to  the  postal-telegraph  system  is  that  ex- 
pressed in  the  statement  that  “ the  people  who  use  the  telegrai)h  ought  to  pay  for  it.’’ 
This  is  partly  right  and  partly  wrong.  It  is  right  just  to  the  same  extent  that  it  is 
true  of  the  present  postal  system.  The  people  who  send  letters  and  newspai)ers 
through  the  mail  are  the  people  who  ought  to  pay  for  maintaining  the  post-office  to 
i certain  extent.  But  the  Government,  as  representing  the  whole  people,  has  an  in- 
rerest in  maintaining  the  postal  system  and  every  part  of  it.  The  expenditures  of 
naintainiug  the  postal  service  ought  not  to  be  limited  to  the  receipts.  Every  intel- 
igent  consideration  of  the  subject  brings  one  to  this  conclusion.  It  would  be  a cor- 
rect c'ouclusion  if  applied  to  the  postal  telegraph,  just  as  it  is  now  when  we  consider 
d in  reference  to  the  transmission  of  only  letters  and  newspapers. 

It  is  true  that,  if  the  choice  were  between  making  the  ordinary  postal  service  as  effi- 
pient  in  all  parts  of  the  country  as  it  ought  to  be  and  the  adoption  of  the  postal-tele- 
?raph  system,  then  we  ought  to  let  postal  telegraphy  go  for  awhile  in  order  to  make 
ihe  ordinary  postal  service  as  useful  as  practicable.  But  there  is  no  such  limited 
dioice  as  this.  The  country  is  rich  enough  to  make  the  ordinary  postal  service  ail 
jhat  it  ought  to  be,  and  at  the  same  time  to  extend  to  the  public  the  benefits  of  the 
Dostal-telegraph  system. 

[Wasliington  Gazette,  June  22.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green  stated  to  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office°and  Post-Roads 
)n  Tuesday  last,  that  the  Postmaster-General’s  proposition  to  establish  a postal  tele- 
iraph  in  connection  with  the  post-offices  throughout  the  country  was  a huge  job 
:o  foster  and  build  up  a uew^  company.”  Will  the  doctor  inform  the  public  who  is  in 
;he  job  and  what  new  company  is  to  be  formed  ? Assertion  is  not  argument. 

[Kansas  City  Journal,  June  22.] 

Dr  Norvin  Green,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has  snb- 
nitted  a final  statement  to  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  in 
ippositiou  to  the  postal • telegraph  scheme.  Apparently  Dr.  Green  recognizes  the 
)robability  that  a postal  telegraph  measure  of  some  sort  will,  before  long,  be  passed 
)y  Congress,  for  he  devotes  a considerable  portion  of  his  letter  to  setting  forth  the 
njustice  of  the  Government’s  entering  the  field  as  a competitor  of  existing  telegraiih 
jompanies,  and  urges  the  propriety  of  buying  out  the  present  lines.  “ What”  ••■ov- 
^nment  under  the  sun,”  asks  Dr.  Green,  ‘'has  ever  established  a postal  telegraph 
Vithout  first  taking  and  paying  for,  at  a fair  and  full  valuation,  all  existing  tele- 
graph properties,  where  there  were  any  in  its  dominions?  Whatever  the  Goverii- 
nent  does  for  the  people  it  must  do  exclusively.  If  the  telegraiih  be  held  as  a [lart 
ind  parcel  of  the  postal  service,  the  Government  should  do  it  all.  It  would  bo  an 
inprecedented  outrage  for  the  Government  to  enter  into  competition  with  lono-  es- 
-ablisbed  enterprises  of  its  own  citizens.”  ^ 

'pereis  justice  in  this.  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  plan  to  lease  certain  telegraph  lines, 
ind  thus  have  the  Government  and  the  telegraph  companies  divide  the  business,  does 
lot  seem  very  practicable  or  fair.  Of  course  the  Government’s  leased  lines  wumld  tap 
me  great  centers  of  population,  and  take  the  cream  of  the  telegraph  business.  To 


84 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


make  up  for  such  losses  to  the  companies,  the  people  in  more  remote  sections  would 
he  made  to  sutler.  AVhen  the  Government  goes  into  the  telegraj^h  business  it  should 
go  fully  equipped,  aud  ready  to  perform  at  least  the  same  service  which  the  compa-. 
uies  now  render.  And  it  should  monopolize  the  field,  not  enter  it  as  a competitor. 

, [Des  Moiues  ISTews,  June  23.1 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  proving  himself  a firm  and  fearless  official  in  his 
dealings  with  telegraph  aud  other  corporations.  He  is  evidently  the  right  man  in 
the  right  place. 


• [Attleboro’  -Mass.)  Sun,  June  23.] 

Whatever  may  justly  be  said  against  the  present  Postmaster-General,  he  should  be, 
given  the  credit  of  tr^dng  earnestly  and  honestly  to  secure  for  the  people  of  this 
country  freedom  from  the  power  now  wielded  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, which  is,  without  exception,  the  most  outrageous  robber  of  the  people’s  money 
in  existence  on  this  continent  to-day.  There  is  absolutely  no  reason  why  the  Govern- 
ment should  not  in  this,  as  in  almost  every  other  civilized  country,  control  the  entire 
system  of  telegraphs,  and  give  to  the  public  their  use  upon  the  same  cheap  terms 
that  govern  the  transportation  of  the  mails.  To  this  end  Mr.  Wauamalier  has  exerted 
all  the  influence  of  his  power;  if  the  effort  fails,  it  will  be  because  the  wealth  aud^ 
influence  of  the  Western  Union  has  been  improperly  exerted  to  prevent  what  shoulcb 
be  done.  To  no  slight  extent  is  the  press  of  this  country  interested  to  have  this  “re- 
form,” for  such  the  movement  really  is,  carried  into  effect.  The  discrimination  of  the 
company  against  the  smaller  papers,  in  favor  of  the  great  Associated  Press,  is  one 
evil  which  would  cease  to  exist  if  the  plan  of  a postal  telegraph  should  prove  suc- 
eessful.  But  there  are  many  other  ways  in  which  the  country  at  large  would  profit 
by  the  triumph  of  the  Postmaster-General’s  pet  idea. 

• [Scrauton  Times,  Juno  24.]  , 

Representative  Ketcham,  of  New  York,  who  is  a member  of  the  Post-Office  Committee 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  gives  an  excuse  of  the  failure  of  that  committee  to^ 
report  the  postal  telegraph  bill  that  there  is  no  public  demand  for  such  legislation.  ■ 
Mr.  Ketcham  is  mistaken  in  that  view  of  the  case.  There  is  and  has  been  for  years  a i 
public  demand  for  a postal  telegraph,  but  the  House  Committee  does  not  intend  to- 
listen  to  the  public  or  even  allow  Congress  to  vote  on  the  question. 

There  is  an  evident  intention  to  pigeon-hole  the  entire  matter,  and  at  the  same, 
time  to  misrepresent  before  the  public  the  object  of  the  Postmaster-General’s  bill.  It . 
does  not  provide  that  the  Government' shall  either  build  or  purchase  telegraph  lines.  ; 
It  merely  provides  that  the  Government.shall  contract  with  the  lowest  bidder  to  da( 
the  business  that  may  be  offered.  | 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  under  the  bill,  would  have  precisely  thej 
same  opportunity  as  every  other  company  to  compete  for  this  business.  If  it  is  will-j| 
ingto  do  it  at  a rate  low  enough,  it  could  have  the  contract,  but  if  some  other  com-^ 
pany  is  willing  to  do  the  business  and  give  a satisfactory  bond  at  a lower  rate  than^ 
the  Western  Union,  then  that  other  company  should  have  the  privilege  of  doing  it.‘ 
President  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  says  that  messages  can 
not  be  sent  at  a profit  at  the  rates  offered  by  the  ^Postniaster-General,  but  if  the  busU 
ness  can  not  be  done  at  a profit,  then  no  company  will  undertake  to  do  it,  and  noth-’ 
ing  will  be  lost.  " _ - 

D.  H.  Bates,  who  was  president  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company  up 
to  the  time  of  its  absorption  by  the  Western  Union,  has  declared  his  willingness  to 
undertake  the  contract  and  to  furnish  plenty  of  capital  to  carry  it  out.  j 

As  showing  how  cheap  telegraphing  can  be  done  at  a profit,  Mr.  Bates  has  filed 
with  the  Post-Office  Committee  at  Washington  the  audited  accounts  of  theBaltimoro 
and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company  while  it  was  in  existence.  These  show  that  it  not  only 
paid  expenses,  but  made  a small  profit,  and  that,  too,  after  it  had  paid  the  railroad 
company  for  the  rental  of  offices  and  the  transportation  of  employes  aud  other  such 
expenses.  According  to  this  showing  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Telegraph  at  the  time 
of  its  sale  had  cost  a trifle  over  it!!, QUO, 000,  and  owned  52,000  miles  of  wire.  The  last' 
fiscal  year  the  gross  earnings  wete  4(5  per  cent,  of  the  capital  cost.  The  rates  that 
were  in  force  on  the  line  were  very  low;  for  instance,  from  New  York  to  Portland,* 
Me.,  10  cents;  New  York  to  AVashington  and  intermediate  points,  10  cents;  New, 
York  to  Chicago,  15  cents;  New  York  to  St.  Louis,  20  cents.  If  the  Baltimore  aud 
Ohio  line  inade^  a profit  at  these  rates,  it  is  very  clear  that  a large  profit  could  be 
made  at  the  rates  pro])osed  by  the  Postmaster-General.  ■ 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPPI  P^ACILITIES. 


85 


[New  Ilaven  Palladium,  June  24.  J 

\ 

‘ The  indorsement  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  gave  favor  to  the  postal  tele- 
graph idea  which  a very  few  years  ago  was  conffidered  a rattle-brain  scheme  ; and  it 
is  probable  the  country  will  adopt  It.  Congress  has  put  off  its  discussion,  however, 
until  next  session. 

[St.  Loui.s  Star-Sayings,  June  25.) 

The  success  of  the  opponents  of  postal  telegrapliy  in  putting  otf  the  consideration 
of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  suggestion,  until  the  next  session  of  Congress  is 
only  a truce  in  the  fight.  The  struggle  will  be  renewed  and  the  hope  of  the  tele- 
graph monopoly  crowd  that  the  postponement  of  the  question,  as  ordered  by  the 
Post-Office  Committee,  is  the  death  of  the  mea.sure  will  prove  to  be  short-lived.  It 
is  to  the  credit  of  Mr.  Wanamaker  that  he  has  brought  the  subject  prominently  be- 
fore the  country,  and  the  fact  that  there  are  indications  that  in  his  advocacy  of  the 
pleasure  he  stands  practically  alone  in  the  administration  does  not  detract  iu-the 
least  from  the  honor  of  his  endeavor. 

[Liberty  (lud.)  Herald,  June  26. J 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  still  refuses  to  pay  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
pompa-ny  their  price  for  the  telegraph  service  for  his  Department,  which  he  regards  as 
exorbitant.  The  company  threaten  to  carry  the  matter  into  the  courts  ; it  is  to  be 
tioped  it  will  do  so,  as  it  will  be  the  means  of  lighting  up  many  dark  corners  and  nooks  in 
Jiud  about  this  devil-fish  monoiioly.  The  correct  thing  i'or  the  people  to  do  is  to 
elect  Congressmen  and  Senators  pledged  to  the  establishment  of  a Government  postal 
^legraph  system  and  also  a package  post  system  in  connection  with  the  mail  service. 
iThis  would  put  an  end  to  two  giant  monopolies,  the  telegraph  and  express  company 
trust,  and  also  put  a quietus  on  members  of  our  national  Legislature  speeulatiug  in 
the  stock  of  these  companies. 

[Ambler  (Pa.)  Gazette,  June  26.] 

The  postal-telegraph  bill,  providing  that  one  could  send  telegrams  at  a cheap  rate 
through  the  mails,  has  been  postponed  by  Congress  till  its  next  session.  This  was 
me  of  the  pet  projects  of  Wanamaker,  but  the  great  monopoly,  the  Western  Union 
Zlompany,  has  been  too  much  for  him.  ^It  has  no  notion  of  having  the  United  States 
Post-ofiSce.Departmeut  as  a competitor. 

[Talraage  (Nebr.)  (Jbampion,  June  27.] 

In  speaking  of  the  postal  telegrapn  bill.  Dr.  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union 
relegraph  Company,  says  there  are  no  elements  sufficiently  strong  to  threaten  the 
stability  of  the  Government,  and  hence  we  conclude  that  he  thinks  that  robbery 
)f  the  people  should  not  be  stopped.  While  we  oppose  Government  control,  it  must 
)e  exercised  in  an  emergency. 

[E,eligio-Phi!o=sopliical  Journal  (Chicago),  June 28.] 

The  Postmaster-General  is  in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph  system,  and  the  subject 
las  been  pressed  in  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices ; but  the  influence  of  the 
vVestern  Union  Company  has  been  sufficient  to  cause  postponement  of  action.  The- 
3ill  originally  suggested  by  the  Postmaster-General  authorized  him  to  enter  into  a 
iontract  with  responsible  persons  to  connect  a certain  number  of  post-offices  for  tele- 
graphic purposes  by  leased  wires  and  instruments,  to  be  operated  by  post-office  em- 
)loyes,  to  carry  messages  for  the  Government  and  for  the  people.  The  House  com- 
hittee  will  probably  come  to  a decision  within  a few  days.  But  for  millionaire  cor- 
)oration  influence  and  op[)08ition  the  country  ere  now  would  have  had  cheap  postal 
.telegraphy.  The  system  worksadmirably  in  England.  Why  should  it  not  be  adopted 
n the  United  States  ? 

[Washington  Gazette,  June  29.] 

When  the  proposition  was  made  by  a distinguished  Postmaster-General  some  years 
iuce  that  the  United  States  purchase  existing  lines  of  telegraph,  and  earry  on  that 
ervice  in  connection  with  the  other  business  of  the  post-office,  the  Western  Union 
nade  no  sign.  Government  control  of  the  telegraph  was  then  a welcome  idea  to  the 
•fficials  of  that  company,  because  they  expected  to  sell  out  at  a high  valuation.  No 
alk  of  paternalism  then. 

To-day  the  same  officials  view  the  proposal  from  another  point.  Under  the  limited 
ystem  of  telegraph  service  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  ^here  would  be  an  oppbr- 


86 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


tiuiity  for  other  lines  to  perform  the  service  for  the  Government,  and  at  cheaper  rates 
than  the  Western  Union  Company  now  dictate  to  the  public. 

It  is  a great  pity  that  well-meaning  men  should  have  permitted  themselves  to  be. 
deceived  by  the  flimsy  arguments  of*  the  company  and  the  alleged  danger  of  having 
the  service  pass  from  private  to  public  hands.  Onrletters  are  to-day  safe  from  public 
inspection.  The  seal  is  regarded  as  inviolate.  But  can  this  be  said  of  the  contents 
of  our  telegraph  dispatches,  in  view  of  the  frequent  instances  in  which  their  contents 
are  made  i)ublic  property  in  some  mysterious  way? 

It  is  time  that  the  public  should  fully  understand  this  telegraph  business.  Having 
swallowed  up  its  rivals  piecemeal  and  put  up  its  rates,  the  Western  Union  Company' 
does  not  intend  that -the  United  States  shall  perform  its  functions  of  fiiruisbing  cheapj 
and  rapid  intercommunication  between  the  people  if  persistent  falsifying  on  the  onei 
hand  and  influencing”  members  of  Congress  and  subsidizing  the  press  on  the  other] 
can  prevent  it. 

So  far  they  liave  succeeded  in  postponing  action  in  the  House  committee.  But  this 
is  not  final.  The  friends  of  cheap  telegraphy  should  see  to  it  that  the  importance  of 
the  subject  is  laid  before  the  public  in  a plain  and  intelligible  way,  and  that  the! 
schemes  and  methods  of  the  company  are  fully  ex'posed.  j 

How  many  United  States  Senators  and  Representatives,  to  say  nothing  of  State 
legislatures,  do  good  Dr.  Green  and  innocent  Mr.  Gould  carry  in  their  breeches  pock- 
ets? 

That  is  the  kind  of  “paternalism”  with  which  they  wish  no  interferemce. 

[Northwest  Trade,  Minneapolis,  Minn.,  July  5.] 

Cheap  John  writers  have  had  a good  deal  of  fun  in  poking  at  Postmaster-GeneraF 
Wanarnaker,  and  yet  the  commercial  world,  we  believe,  recognizes  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Wanamaker  is  not  one  of  the  weakest  merchants  of  his  time;  that  he  has  some  busi- 
ness acumen  and  experience ; that  the  postal  service  has  not  deteriorated  under  his- 
management,  and  that  if  he  succeeds  in  giving  the  country  a serviceable  postal-tele-vj 
graph  system  he  will  be  remembered  when  ninety-niue-one-hundredths  of  the  Cabinet! 
ministers  haven’t  even  a name  in  history.  ^ 

[Andes  (New  York)  Recorder,  July  14. J ' 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  seems  to  have  solved  the  problem  of  postal  tele: 
graph.  This  is  the  only  Government  in  the  world  that  does  not  in  part,  at  least,)! 
control  and  operate  a telegraph  system.  The  cost  of  telegraphing  to  the  people  of 
Great  Britain,  for  instance,  is  .50  per  cent,  less  than  in  this  country.  The  principal, 
objection  to  xjostal  telegraph  heretofore  has  been  that  it  would  multiply  to  such  an 
extent  the  number  of  the  employes  of  the  Government  that  it  would  be  almost  im-, 
possible  to  defeat  a party  once  in  power.  Mr.  Wanamaker,  who  is  a thorough,  practi- ! 
cal  business  man,  proposes  that  the  Government  contract  with  existing  telegraph] 
companies  to  transmit  telegrams  the  same  as  they  now  contract  with  railroads  to 
carry  the  mails,  and  that  at  all  free-delivery  offices  a telegraph  office  be  located  at  the 
post-office,  and  that  the  messages  shall  be  delivered  by  the  regular  employes  of  the, 
Government.  The  telegraph  companies  are  to  provide  all  materials,  to  pay  all  the' 
expenses,  and  provide  all  the  operators,  the  Government  to  pay  the  telegraph  com- 
panies a fair  remuneration  for  transmitting  messages.  By  this  method  the  cost  of 
telegraphing  to  the  public  would  be  diminished  at  least  one-half.  Telegraph  stamps 
would  be  sold  at  the  post-office  the  same  as  postage-stamps  are  now  sold.  There  are 
now  three  bills  before  Congress  providing  for  postal  telegraph.  If  any  are  adopted 
it  will  doubtless  be  the  bill  based  on  this  system  proposed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker. 

[Santa  Fe  (N.  Mex.)  Review,  July  17.] 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  ideas  on  postal  telegraphy  have  taken  a firm  hold  on  Congress,., 
and  the  chances  are  that  provision  will  be  made  at  this  session  for  a limited  service 
to  test  the  expediency  of  the  Postmaster-Generars  views.  Originally  the  Western 
Union  hooted  at  the  idea  of  such  a possibility,  but  lately  that  corporation  has  modi- 
fied its  tone  very  decidedly,  and  now  asks  to  have  the  act  so  framed  so  that,  in  casef 
a postal-telegraph  system  is  established,  the  Western  Union  may  have  an  opportunity 
to  compete  for  the  Government  work.  Time  does  indeed  work  changes.  ’ 

[Hartford  (Conn.)  Post,  July  17.] 

Senator  Sawyer  yesterday  introduced  a now  postal-telegraph  bill  providing  alL 
post-offices  whore  the  freo-dolivery  system  exists  shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations, 
and  in  addition  the  Postmaster-General  may  designate  other  post-offices  and  telegraph 

a 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


87 


offices  as  postal  stations.  The  Postmaster-General  shall  contraet  with  one  or  more  of 
the  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten  years.  Rates  proposed 
are  as  follows:  For  the  first  twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature, 
between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State,  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents; 

; between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  Stivte,  25  cents  for 
the  first  twenty  words  or  less.  The  Western  Union  will  fight  the  bill,  of  course,  but 
there  is  a strong  demand  for  this  reform. 

^ [‘N’ew  York  Evening  News,  July  17.] 

The  postal-telegraph  bill,  which  was  pigeon-holed  in  the  Post-Office  Committee  of 
the  House,  has  made  its  ajipearance  in  the  Senate.  Mr.  Sawyer,  of  Wisconsin,  has 
introduced  it  in  that  body,  and  as  he  is  chairman  of  the  Senate  Post-Office  Committee 
it  is  fair  to  assume  that  he  will  see  that  the  bill  gets  proper  treatment.  General 
Bingham,  of  Philadelphia,  who  introduced  the  bill  in  the  House,  and  who  is  chair- 
man of  the  House  Post-Office  Committee,  was  never, favorable  to  the  measure,  but 
merelj'^  offered  it  to  oblige  Postmaster-Ueneral  Wanaraaker,  who  has  taken  an  in- 
terest in  this  subject. 

Should  the  bill  get  before  the  House  once  thcfte  is  reason  to  believe  that  a majority 
of  its  members  would  favor  it,  as  it  does  not  commit  the  Government  to  any  expend- 
iture, merely  providing  that  the  work  shall  be  done  by  contract  to  the  lowest  bidder 
at  the  rates  named  in  the  bill.  If  the  measure  had  not  been  pigeon-holed  in  the  House 
committee,  through  influences  pretty  well  understood  in  Washington,  it  would  prob- 
ably have  passed  the  lower  body  long  ago.  Under  Senator  Sawyer’s  management  it 
may  get  through  the  Senate  and  come  before  the  House  in  that  way.  But  it  must  be 
confessed  that  the  Senate  has  never  shown  any  great  favor- to  measures  of  this  kind. 
Anything  that  interferes  with  a rnono})oly  or  corporation  stands  a poor  chance  of  get- 
ting through  the  United  States  Senate.  Hence  the  outlook  for  this  bill  is  by  no  means 
as  good  as  its  friends  might  wish. 

[Dover  (N.  11.)  Democrat,  July  18.] 

A bill  to  establish  a postal  telegraph  service  has  been  introduced  by  Senator  Sawyer, 
iOf  Wisconsin.  It  provides  that  all  post-offices  where  the  free-delivery  system  exists 
shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations.  In  addition  to  these  the  Postmaster-General  may 
designate  other  post-offices  and  telegraph  offices  as  postal  stations.  The  bill  provides 
that  the  Postmaster-General  shall  contract  with  one  or  more  of  the  telegraph  compa- 
nies, now  in  existence,  for  a period  of  ten  years.  The  subjoined  rates  are  proposed  : 
For  the  first  twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature,  between  postal 
stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents.  Between  stations 
not  less  than  300  miles  apart,  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty 
'words  or  less.  No  rate  shall  be  greater  than  50  cents  for  twenty  words. 

' [Piiiladolpliia  Item,  July  18.] 

The  exertions  of  the  Hon.  Henuiker  Heaton,  M.  P.,  for  cheaper  postage — particu- 
larly cheaper  ocean  postage — are  sure  to  be  suceessful.  In  America  he  has  the  co- 
operation of  that  brainy  and  patriotie  worker.  Postmaster- General  Wanamaker,  and 
in  England  the  Royal  family  have  taken  a hand  in  the  agitation.  The  good  Queen  is 
[Working  for  it,  and  her  influence  is  all-powerful. 

All  the  English  papers  second  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Heaton,  and  many  of  the  American 
Epapers  second  Mr.  Wanamaker. 

The  efforts  now  being  made  to  lower  the  telegraph  between  England  and  France 
are  a part  of  the  movement  to  aid  the  intercourse  of  the  world  commercially  and 
socially. 

! It  is  the  duty  of  every  well-wisher  of  society  to  help  these  benefactors. 

I f H ivdr’uill  Bulletiu,  Ju’y  19.] 

i A bill  to  establish  postal-telegraph  service  has  been  introduced  by  Senator  Sawyer, 
jof  Wisconsin.  It  provides  that  all  post-offices  where  the  free-delivery  system  exists 
ishall  be  postal- telegraph  stations.  In  addition  to  these  the  Postmaster- General  may 
:designate  other  post-offices  and  telegraph  offices  as  postal  stations.  The  bill  provides 
that  the  Postmaster-General  shall  contract  with  one  or  more  of  the  telegraph  corn- 
ipanies  now  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten  years.  The  subjoined  rates  are  proposed  : 
[For  the  first  twenty  words  or' less,  counting  address  and  signature,  between  postal 
^stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents;  between  stations 
[not  less  than  300  miles  a[)art  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty 
words  or  less.  No  rate  shall  be  greater  than  50  cents  for  twenty  words. 


88 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


I Scranton  (Pa.)  Times,  July  19.  J 

The  ease  with  which  the  postal-telegraph  hill  was  shelved  in  Congress  indicates  the 
power  of  corporations  in  that  branch  of  our  National  legislature.  The  Chairman  of 
the  House  Post-Office  Committee  did  not  want  the  bill  iiassed  for  reasons  kuown  to 
those  well  informed  at  Washington,  and  he  pocketed  the  bill.  The  House  is  not  al- 
lowed to  pass  upon  it.  How  much  easier  it  is  to  deal  with  a small  committee,  or  the 
chainyan  of  one,  than  with  three  hundred  and  thirty  members  of  the  House  ? 

[Atlanta  (Ga.)  Journal,  July  19.] 

Senator  Sawyer’s  postal-telegraph  service  bill,  introduced  on  Wednesday,  provides 
that  all  post-offices  where  the  free-delivery  system  exists  shall  be-  postal-telegraph 
stations;  that  the  Postmaster-General  shall  contract  with  one  or  more  of  the  tele- 
graph companies  now'  in  existeude  for  a i)eriod  of  ten  years.  The  rates  proposed  are 
as  follow^s:  For  the  first  twenty  wmrds  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature,  be- 
tween postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents;  be- 
tw'een  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents;  no 
rate  shall  be  greater  than  50  cents  for  tw'enty  words. 

0 

[Boston  Traveler,  July  21.] 

The  postal-telegraph  bill  introduced  by  Senator  Saw^yer  is  a conservative  measure,  : 
and  if  the  experiment  of  a postal  telegraph  is  to  be  made  at  all  the  lines  indicated  by 
this  bill  can  not  seriously  be  objected  to.  It  provides  that  all  post-offices  where  the 
free-delivery  system  exists  shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations,  and  in  addition  the 
Postmaster  General  may  designate  other  post-offices  and  telegraph  offices  as  postal 
stations.  The  Postmaster  General  shall  by  its  provisions  contract  with  one  or  more 
of  the  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten  years,  and  rates  shall 
be  established  as  follow's:  For  the  lir.st  tw'euty  wmrdsor  less,  counting  address  andsig-  : 
nature,  betw'een  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15 
cents;  between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  ax>art  and  not  iii  the  same  State,  25  ; 
cents  for  the  first  tw'enty  words  or  less.  The  measure  will  of  course  be  strongly  i 
fought  by  the  Western  Union,  but  there  is  a strong  and  growing  demand  on  the  part 
of  thepeoi^le  that  the  jiostal-telegraph  exjierimeut  be  given  a trial. 

[Philadelphia  Call,  July  21.] 

This  is  rather  late  in  the  session  to  introduce  such  an  imxiortant  measure  into  Con- 
gress as  a bill  to  establish  a postal  telegrajih,  especially  since  there  are  so  many  mat- 
ters to  be  acted  upon.  The  tariff  bill,  tile  election  bill,  the  shipping  bill,  the  orig- 
inal package  bill,  the  bankruptcy  bill,  and  some  other  important  measures  are  to  be  ; 
acted  upon  by  one  or  both  branches  of  Congress,  and  there  will  not  be  much  time  for 
consideration  of  Senator  Saw'ver’s  postal  telegraph  bill.  This  is  a measure  that  has  \ 
been  before  the  public  for  years,  and  it  is  one  that  is  sure  to  bring  out  a great  deal  of  ■ 
talk  on  both  sides.  Perhaps  Senator  Sawyer  does  not  expect  the  bill  to  go  through  i 
this  session. 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  who  has  given  the  jiostal-telegraph  proposition  a , 
great  deal  of  thought,  is  convinced  that  it  w'ould  be  a good  thing  for  the  country,  and 
he  has  show'ii  very  conclusively  in  his  speeches  and  w^ritings  on  the  subject  that  such  . 
an  addition  could  be  made  to  the  Post-Office  Department,-  and  could  be  operated  to  the 
benefit  of  the  people  without  much  if  any  cost.  His  controversy  with  President  Green,  ; 
of  the  Western  Union  Telegrai>h  Company,  showed  that  he  was  not  ignorant  of  the  v 
subject,  nor  did  Dr.  Green,  wdth  all  his  knowledge  of  the  telegraph  business,  get  the  ' 
better  of  the  argument.  A postal  telegraxffi  is  sure  to  come  in  the  near  future,  but  ^ 
there  is  not  much  prospect  of  the  bill  that  Senator  Sawyer  introduced  last  week  of  ' 
becoming  a law'  this  year.  ‘ \ 


[Philadelphia  Item,  July  21.]  I 

Our  brainy  and  hard- w'orking  Postmaster-General  is  as  enthusiastic  as  ever  in  ad-  « 
vocacy  of  iiostal  telegraphy.  He  wants  the  best  possible  service  at  the  lowest  pos-  \ 
sible  price.  The  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  having  decided  ’• 
not  to  reiiort  the  bill  at  this  session,  the  matter  is  being  pressed  by  the  Postmaster-  | 
General  before  the  Senate  committee,  and  an  investigation  is  being  made  to  showy  j 
exactly  what  can  be  done  and  how'  much  cheaper  the  service  w'ould  be  than  at  pres- 
eut.  The  bill  before  the  Senate  committee  for  consideration  is  the  Saw'yer  bilL  It  jj 
gives  the  proxiosed  system  to  free-delivery  ])ost-offices,  one-half  the  first  year  and  the  3 
rest  in  tw'o  years,  authorizes  the  Postmaster-General  to  contract  with  existing  tele- J 
graph  companies,  and  fixes  a graded  rate  for  dispatches,  ranging,  according  to  dis- 1 
tance,  from  15  to  50  cents  for  twenty  words.  This  bill  w'ould  not  cost  the  Depart-  ^ 
ment  as  much  as  a bill  creating  more  postal-telegraxdi  stations.  3 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


89 


I ^ [Norristown  (Pa.)  Ilerald,  July  22.1 

! The  postal  telegraph  proposition  is  being  discussed  by  a Senate  cominittee.  A 
conclusion  may  be  reached  to  carry  out  the  plan  before  the  close  of  the  session. 
iEverytbiug  that  adds  to  promptness  and  efficiency'  in  the  mail  service  is  a public 
benefit.  • There  is  no  question  as  to  the  necessity  for  cheap  telegraphy  which  the 
measure  would  gain. 

[Kansas  City  (Mo.)  Star,  July  23.] 

The  Postruaster-Geueial’shill  for  cheap  telegraphy  by  the  Government  was  promptly 
shelved  by  the  House  committee.  But  Mr.  Wanamaker  knows  that  there  is  more  than 
one  way  to  the  mill.  He  now  has  the  bill  before  the  Senate  committee  with  a pros- 
pect of  its  being  favorably  reported  to  that  body. 

I [Holyoke  (Mass.)  Transcript,  July  24. J 

' There  are  four  bills  now  pending  in  Congress  to  establish  postal  telegraphs.  The 
ane  indorsed  by  the  Postmaster-General  is  brielly  to  establish  a cheap  and  uniform 
telegraph  rate  between  the  carrier-delivery  post-offices  of  the  country,  and  contract 
for  the  conveyance  of  messages  with  existing  telcgrai)h  companies,  or  others  which 
paay  be  established,  that  are  willing  to  convey  messages  at  these  rates;  stamps  for 
this  service  will  be  used  just  as  postage-stamps  are  uow.  It  is  estimated  that  mes- 
sages could  be  sent  at  one-half  the  present  rate,  and  [)eople  who  are  now  debarred 
from  using  telegraphic  communication  could  enjoy  the  facilities  offered  by  the  new 
system.  People  will  not  submit  to  being  taxed  so  exorbitantly  for  the  use  of  the 
most  improved  means  of  conveying  intelligence,  and  the  modilied  plan  proposed  by 
|;he  Postmaster-General  is  the  most  likely  of  acceptance. 

^ [Anniston  (Ala.)  Blade,  July  24.1 

The  Postmaster-General  is  still  fighting  for  a cheap  telegraphic  service. 

' [Burlington  (Iowa)  Gazette,  July  24.] 

i Senator  SawyeFs  bill  to  establish  a postaj-telegraph  service  provides  that  all  post- 
jffices  where  the  free-delivery  system  exists  shall  be  j)ostal-telegraph  stations,  and  in 
iddition  thePostmaster-General  may  designate  other  post-offices  and  telegraph  offices 
IS  postal  stations.  The  Postmaster-General  is  to  contract  with  one  or  more  of  the 
telegraph  companies  uow  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten  years.  The  rates  proposed 
ire  as  follows : For  the  first  twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature, 
3etween  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  :300  miles  apart,  15  cents.  Be- 
tween stations  not  les's  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for 
:he  first  twenty  words  or  less.  No  rate  is  to  be  greater  than  50  cents  for  twenty 
^ords. 

Within  two  years  after  the  passage  of  the  bill  one  half  of  the  postal-telegraph  sta- 
dons  contemplated  are  to  be  connected  by  wires  of  the  companies  receiving  the  con- 
tract, and  within  the  next  succeeding  year  at  least  one-half  of  the  remainder  must 
)e  connected.  The  Postmaster  General  is  to  j)rescribe  the  rules  and  regulations  for 
jarrying  out  the  purposes  of  the  bill. 

[San  Francisco  (Cal.)  Call,  July  25.1 

Senator  Sawyer’s  bill  for  the  establishment  of  a postal-telegraph  service  provides 
hat  all  free-delivery  post-offices  shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations,  and  in  addition 
he  Postmaster-General  may  designate  other  offices  and  telegraph  offices  as  postal- 
elegraph  stations.  The  Postmaster-General  is  to  make  contracts  with  telegraph 
jompanies  for  a i)eriod  of  ten  years.  The  rates  propo.sed  are  : For  twenty  words  or 
ess  between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents  ; 
between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for 
weuty  words.  No  rate  is  to  be  greater  than  50  cents  for  twenty  words. 

[Bloomington  (111.)  Leader,  July  25.] 

A bill  has  been  introduced  into  Congress  for  the  establishment  of  a posral-telegraph 
ystem.  The  bill  provides  that  every  post-office  where  the  free  delivery  is  used  shall 
)e  a postal-teie^raph  station.  ThePostmaster-General  is  to  contract  with 'one  or 
noreof  the  existing  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a period  often  years, 
die  rates  proposed  are  : For  the  first  twenty  wordsor  less,  counting  address  and  signa- 
ure,  between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  tlian  300  miles  apart,  15  cents  ; 
between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for 


90 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


the  first  twenty  words  or  less.  No  rate  shall  be  greater  than  50.  cents  for  twenty 
words.  The  pa.ssage  of  this  bill  and  the  snccess  of  the  system  if  established  would 
mean  the  future  control  of  the  telegraph  by  the  Government  and  its  use  as  an  auxil- 
iary to  the  mail  service. 

[Keunebec  (Me.)  Journal,  July  26.] 

The  postal-telegraph  bill,  introduced  by  Senator  Sawyer,  is  a conservative  measure, 
and  if  the  experiment  of  a postal-telegraph  is  to  be  made  at  all,  the  plan  indicated 
by  the  bill  is  as  free  from  objections  as  any  bill  can  be  made.  It  x>rovides  that  all 
post-offices  where  the  free  delivery  exists  shall  be  j)ostal-telegraph  stations,  and  in 
addition  the  Postmaster-General  shall  by  its  jmovisions  contract  with  one  or  more  of 
the  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten  j-ears,  and  rates  shall  be 
established  as  follows:  Por  the  fir.st  twenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  sig- 
nature, between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  less  than  300  miles  apart,  15 
cents;  between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25 
cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less.  The  measure  will,  of  cour.se,  be  strongly  op- 
posed b}'  existing  companies,  but  there  seems  to  be  a growing  demand  on  the  i)art  of 
the  joeople  for  a postal  telegraph,  and  if  the  experiment  is  to  be  given  a trial  it  may 
as  well  come  now  as  later.  That  it  will  come  some  time  is  a foregone  conclusion. 

[Frank  Le.slie’s  Illustrated  Newspaper,  July  26.] 

THE  POSTAL-TELEGRAPH. 

Four  bills  are  now  xiending  in  Congress  to  establish  a x)ostal  telegraph.  Most  of 
these  contemplate  the  inirchase  of  existing  companies  or  the  construction  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  cornxieting  lines.  One  proposition,  indorsed  by  the  Postmaster- General^ 
however,  differs  from  either  of  these  method.s,  and  it  seems  jirobable  that  if  any  meas- 
ure is  adojited  it  will  be  this. 

In  brief,  it  is  to  establish  cheap  and  uniform  telegrajih  rates  between  the  carrier- 
delivery  x)ost-offices  of  the  country,  and  contract  for  the  conveyance  of  messages  with 
existing  telegraph  companies,  or  others  which  may  be  established,  that  are  willing  to 
convey  messages  at  these  rates.  In  other  words,  the  Government  will  contract  with 
telegrajih  companies  to  carry  messages  just  as  it  contracts  with  railroad  lines  to 
carry  letters.  It  will  utilize  exi.sting  fiost-offices  for  the  receipt  of  messages,  and  will 
have  the  carriers  at  free-delivery  points  deliver  the  messages.  The  telegraph  com- 
jiany  transmitting  the  messages  will  simjjly  have  office  room  in  the  j)ost-offices  for  its 
operators,  and  furnish  its  own  supplies.  Telegraph-stamps  will  be  sold  and  used  just 
as  postage-stamps  are  now,  and  as  they  are  used  in  all  other  countries. 

It  is  estimated  that  messages  could  be  thus  sent  for  about  one-half  what  they  now 
cost,  and  the  benefits  of  telegraphic  communication  thus  jilaced  within  the  reach  of 
the  masses,  who  are  now  debarred  from  them  by  the  expense  of  using  the  telegraph. 

One  of  the  arguments  of  the  oiiponents  of  a postal  telegraph  has  been  that  the  tel- 
egraph was  used  by  but  a small  part  of  the  population,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  pub- 
lic ought  not  to  be  taxed  for  the  benefit  of  a minority.  The  opponents  of  a postal 
telegraph  are  indeed  hard  pressed  for  arguments  when  they  put  this  forward  as  a 
reason,  for,  unwittingly,  in  doing  so  they  give  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor 
of  a xiostal  telegraph.  j 

When  the  ])ostage  on  letters  was  double  what  it  now  is  but  a small  part  of  the  j 
public  used  the  post-office.s,  but  with  every  reduction  there  has  been  an  enormous  \ 
increase  in  the  usefulness  of  the  Post-Office  Department  to  the  peojde.  ' 

In  1843  the  average  postage  was  14  cents,  and  only  27,831,000  letters  were  sent,  one  ] 
and  one-half  letters  to  each  inhabitant  jier  annum.  The  postage  was  reduced  to  an  , 
average  rate  of  cents,  and  in  1847  the  number  of  letters  increased  to  57,173,000,  or 
three  letters  to  each  inhabitant  })er  year  ; and  at  a jiostage  of  2 cents  the  number  has  ; 
increased  to  over  2,500,900,000,  or  forty-one  to  each  inhabitant  x^er  year.  At  14  cents  \ 
postage  there  was  a loss  to  the  Department,  while  at  2 cents  (exclusive  of  printed  < 
matter)  there  is  a large  profit.  ' ] 

The  other  objection  which  has  been  held  ux)  as  a bugbear,  and  which  has  influenced  ] 
many  worthy  x)eople,  has  been  that  a postal  telegrax>h  would  necessitate  a vast  in-  4 
crease  in  Government  patronage.  The  x^roposition  of  Postmaster-General  Wana-  i 
maker  to  have  telegrams  conveyed  by  existing  or  other  lines  under  private  owner-  j 
ship  meets  this  objection,  as  it  does  also  that  of  x^eople  who  think  that  the  Govern-  ^ 
meut  has  no  right  to  take  the  propert.y  of  existing  companies  away  from  them  against  ^ 
their  ^yill,  although  this  point  is  fully  met  by  a law  passed  many  years  ago,  and  ac-  j 
cexffed*  by  the  Western  Union  Telegrax")!!  Company,  permitting  the  Government  to  .. 
take  their  lines  whenever  it  wished  to  do  so  at  a valuation  to  be  fixed  by  arbitrators. 

The  United  States  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  of  any  note  which  does  not  own 
and  oi)erate  its  telegraphs  as  a x>5irt  of  its  x>ostal  system.  The  x>eople  of  the  United  ■ 
States  are  the  only  x>eoxde  on  the  face  of  the  earth  who  intrust  their  business,  social,  .! 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


91 


I and  political  secrets  to  a few  men  who,  if  they  see  fit,  can  violate  secrecy  without 
: fear  of  detection  or  penalty ; and  yet  these  men  have  the  assurance  to  claim  that  the 
! people’s  secrets  are  safer  in  their  hands  than  in  those  of  sworn  Government  employes 
exi)Osed  to  heavy  penalties  for  violation  of  their  duty. 

* The  opinion  of  the  secretary  of  the  Loudon  Chamber  of  Commerce  was  recently 
! asked  upon  this  point,  and  his  rejoinder  was:  “It  is  the  general  belief  in  Great 

Britain  that  ‘the  quickness,  certainty,  and  secrecy  of  the  service  have  improved 
under  the  post-office,’  and  that  the  overwhelming,  in  fact  almost  unanimous,  feeling 
j would  be  an  opposition  to  return  the  telegraph  to  ])rivate  management.” 

! The  National  Board  of  Trade,  representing  the  ])rincipal  commercial  bodies  of  the 
j United  States,  has  repeatedly  recommended  increasing  the  usefulness  of  the  Post- 
' Office  Department  by  the  addition  of  a i)ostal  telegraph,  but  the  influence  of  the 
f Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  thus  far  been  sufficient  to  throttle  all  efforts 
j to  this  end. 

I How  they  have  been  able  to  do  this  can  be  comprehended  by  a glance  at  the  board 
I of  directors  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  which  comprises  leading  men 
in  both  political  parties,  and  represents  the  most  remarkable. aggregation  of  capital 
in  this  country. 

Norvin  Gree'n,  Thomas  T Eckert,  John  T.  Terry,  John  Vanliorne,  Jay  Gould,  Rus- 
sell Sage,  Alonzo  B.  C<trnell,  Sidney  Dillon,  Samuel  Sloan,  Robert  C.  dowry,  George 
J.  Gould,  Edwin  Gould,  John  G.  Moore,  d’rus  W.  Field,  Henry  Weaver,  Percy  R. 
Pyiie,  Charles  Lanier,  Austin  Corbin,  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  Frederick  L.  Ames,  John 
Hay,  William  D.  Bishop,  Collis  P.  Huntington,  George  B.  Roberts,  Sidney  Shepard, 

I Erastus  Wiman,  William  W.  Astor,  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  James  W.  Clendeuiu,  Henry 
I M.  Flagler. 

All  the  leading  railway  lines  are  here  repre.sented,  besides  the  Standard  Oil  Com- 
pany and  several  of  the  greatest  i)rivate  estates  in  the  country.  In  character,  ability, 
influence,  and  capital  they  are  not  equaled  by  any  similar  number  of  men  in  the 
I United  States,  yet  it  is  to  their  interest  to  control  the  transmission  of  intelligence  in 
this  country  and  tax  the  people  all  they  can  get  for  that  service. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  paid  for  the  construction  of  the  first  line  of  tele- 
j graph  in  the  United  States,  and  demonstrated  its  practicability — that  between  Bal- 
timore  and  Washington,  constructed  under  the  superintendence  of  Professor  Morse  and 
[ paid  for  by  a Congre.ssional  appropriation  ; but  this  great  power  for  good  has  been 
! allowed  to  pass  into  private  bauds  and  become  a machine  for  taxing  the  people  whom 
i it  might  have  blessed  to  an  extent  many  times  greater  than  it  has  heretofore  done. 

Throughout  Great  Britain  a 10- word  message  can  now  be  sent  for  sixpence  (12^ 
i cents).  What  messages  can  be  sent  for  under  a Government  administration  strong 
I enough  to  try  experiments  in  the  line  of  cheap  telegraphy,  as  it  has  in  the  line  of 
cheap  postage,  remains  to  be  seen. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  subject  before  the  National  Board  of  Trade  at  its  annual 
meeting,  January,  1888,  it  was  shown  that  a company  formed  to  build  and  operate  a 
line  between  Chicago  and  Milwaukee  did  business  at  first  at  1 cent  a word,  and 
within  two  years  paid  back  to  the  stockholders  90  per  cent,  of  the  money  they  had 
paid  in  ; they  reduce^I  the  rate  to  half  a cent  a word,  or  5 cents  a message,  and  at  this 
rate  paid  over  40  pe  rcent.  upon  the  entire  stock  ; then  (to  use  the  words  of  Hon. 
R.W.  Dunham,  of  Chicago,  one  of  the  stockholders,  who  made  the  statement) : 

“Business  vent  on  in  that  way  for  about  two  years;  then  the'  stockholders  con- 
cluded, as  something  might  happen  some  time  in  the  way  of  unusual  expense,  they 
would  water  the  stock  (laughter),  and  we  doubled  our  stock  from  $14,000  to  $28,000; 
still  the  result  was  about  the  same,  and  from  25  to  40  per  cent,  is  still  paid  back  on 
the  5 cents  a message  paid  by  the  patrons,  and  w^e  stockholders  are  getting  our  14 
per  cent,  on  an  investment  which  cost  us  nothing.” 

The  practice  of  watering  stock  mentioned  by  Mr.  Dunham  has  prevailed  exteu- 

• sively  with  railroads  in  this  country,  but  nowhere,  probably,  to  the  same  extent  as  in 
our  telegraph  service. 

Many  attempts  at  organizing  competing  telegraph  lines  have  been  made,  but  they 
I have  invariably  been  broken  down  and  absorbed  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraivii 
t Company,  accompanied  by  a stock  inflation  which,  according  to  competent  judges, 
now  represents  more  than  five  dollars  of  fictitious  capitalization  for  every  oneflollar 
paid  in  by  stock  and  bond  holders. 

This  state  of  things  ean  not  go  on  forever,  nor  will  the  people  always  submit  to  be 
taxed  exorbitantly  for  the  use  of  the  most  improved  means  of  conveying  intelligence, 
i The  subject  is  daily  growing  in  importance.  In  fifteen  years  from  now  we  shall  have 
over  100,000,009  of  population,  and  I believe  it  to  be  to  ithe  interest  of  the  public  that 
: the  people  should  avail  themselves  of  the  provision  of  the  existing  law  permitting 
1 them  to  buy  all  telegraph  lines  at  a fair  apprai.sed  valuation  ; and  even  if  we  have 
I to  |)ay  more  than  they  could  be  duplicated  for,  in  a few  years  it  would  become  a good 
I investment,  and  the  public  would  no  more  think  of  relegating  their  telegraph  service 
! back  into  private  hands  than  the  people  of  Great  Britain  would  or  the  people  of  the 
j Uflited  States  wmuld  consent  to  their  postal  service  going  back  into  private  .hands. 


92 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


V i 

If,  however,  it  be  deemed  not  wise  and  practicable  to  take  over  all  existing  tel^-  ^ 
graph  lines,  then  let  ns  try  the  modified  plan  proposed  by  the  Postmaster-General,  ■ 
which  will  give  ns  much  lower  and  uniform  rates,  and  place  the  telegraph  service 
within  the  reach  of  a much  greater  number  of  persons. 

F.  B.  Thurber. 

[Bankers’  Monthly  (Chicago),  August,  18!)0.] 

Postmaster  General  Wanamaker  wishes  his  administration  to  be  distinguished  by 
at  least  four  radical  improvetnents  in  this  branch  of  the  public  service.  These  are, 
first,  the  establishment  of  postal  telegraphy;  second,  the  divorce  of  lotteries  from  the 
mails;  third,  postal  savings  banks,  aud  fourth,  penny  postage.  The  three  latter  ■ 
essentials  of  his  general  plan  have  not  yet  been  brought  to  the  public  attention,  but 
the  postal-telegraph  idea  has  been  vigorously  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  House 
committee.  There  is  one  thing  certain,  that  so  soon  as  the  full  limit  of  pension  ap-' 
propriations  is  reached  the  whole  country  will  rise  up  as  one  man  in  favor  of  postal 
telegraphy.  It  could  hardly  be  started  without  some  considerable  expenditure,  and 
Congress  would  not  sanction  the  sale  of  bonds  for  the  expense  must  . 

come  out  of  revenue,  and  judging  by  the  claims  made  in  the  organs,  a further  vote 
will  be  needed  of  all  the  surplus  there  may  be  next  year  for  pensions  in  addition  to 
the  late  increase  and  the  previous  !$80,000,000  annual  rate.  So  patience  in  new  ven- 
tures must  be  exerci.sed.  Mr.  Wanamaker  should  remember  we  have  to  shoulder  a 
dead  investment  of  $60,000,000  for  our  silver  purchase  in  the  next  twelve  months. 

[Brookfield  (Md.)  Uniou,  August  1.] 

A bill  to  establish  a limited  postal-telegraph  service  was  introduced  by  Mr.  Sawyer. 

It  provides  that  all  post-oflices  where  the  free-delivery  system  exists  there  shall  be 
postal-telegraph  stations,  and  in  addition  the  Postmaster-General  may  designate 
other  post-offices  and  telegraph  offices  as  postal  stations.  The  Postmaster-General 
shall  contract  with  one  or  more  of  the  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a • 
period  of  ten  years.  Rates  proposed  are  as  follows:  For  the  first  twenty  words  aud  . 
less,  counting  address  and  signature,  between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and 
less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents  ; between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart 
aud  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less.  No  rate  shall 
be  greater  than  50  cents  for  twenty  words.  Within  two  years  after  the  passage  of 
the  bill  one-half  of  the  postal-telegraph  stations  contemplated  shall  be  connected  by  ' 
wires  of  the  companies  receiving  the  contract,  and  within  the  next  succeeding  year 
at  least  one-half  of  the  remainder  shall  be  so  connected.  The  Postmaster-Geiieral 
shall  prescribe  the  rules  and  regulations  for  carrying  out  the  purposes  of  this  bill. 

[Clinton  (Iowa)  Herald,  August  2.] 

A postal-telegraph  bill  has  been  introduced  in  Congress  by  Senator  Sawyer  that 
has  the  merit  of  being  a very  conservative  measure.  It  provides  that  all  post  offices 
where  the  free-delivery  system  exists  shall  be  postal-telegraph  stations',  and  in  addi- 
tion the  Postmaster  General  may  designate  other  post-offices  aud  telegraph  offices  as 
postal  stations.  The  Postmaster-General  shall  by  the  provisions  of  the  bill  contract 
with  one  or  more  Of  the  telegraph  companies  now  in  existence  for  a period  of  ten 
years,  and  rates  shall  be  established  as  follows  : For  the  first  twenty  words  or  less,  ' 
counting  the  address  and  signature,  between  postal  stations  in  the  same  State  and  ' 
less  than  300  miles  apart,  15  cents  ; between  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  | 
and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less. 

[Bay  City  (Mich.)  Tribune,  August  3.]  ’ 

• ^ 

The  Postmaster-General  is  working  industriously  in  behalf  of  his  bill  in  Congress,  1 
which  is  the  first  important  atop  toward  government  telegraph,  and  we  believe  that  ■ 
the  present  Congress  will  i)ass  it  without  imaterial  amendment.  In  connection  with  I 
its  consideration  of  this  bill,  the  Senate  committee  on  postal  affairs  has  received  , 
suggestions  from  more  than  one  quarter  that  if  we  are  to  have  government  control  * 
of  telegraphing,  we  should  have  government  control  of  telephones.  And  this  seems  j 
to  be  ?i  perfectly  tenable  ground  to  occupy.  The  telephone  is  of  more  universal  use  j 
than  the  telegraph,  and  the  monopoly  of  telephone  service  is  equally  grasping  aud  j 
op])ressive.  This  question  is  already  a live  one  in  Great  Britain,  and  the  Toronto  j 
Mail  has  this  to  say  of  it:  < 

“The  Hritish  post-oflice  authorities  are  being  urged  to  define  the  policy  of  the  de- 
partment in  the  matter  v)f  telephone  communication.  The  courts  long  since  decided 
that  the  existence  of  the  telephone  companies  in  Great  Britain  is  virtually  an  in- 
fringement of  the  electrical  monopoly  of  the  Government — in  fact  they  have  declared 
that  telephonic  communication  is  simply  a branch  of  the  telegraph  service,  aud  that 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


93 


! the  right  of  use  is  vested  iu  the  postal  department.  The  Government,  however, 

I gave  permission  to  the  companies,  upon  payment  to  it  of  10  per  cent,  of  their  gross 
I receipts,  to  continue  operations  for  thirty  years,  reserving  to  itself  the  right  of  pur- 
chase at  the  expiration  of  seven,  fourteen,  or  twenty-one  years.  One  of  these  periods 
will  soon  expire,  and  the  Postmaster-General  stated  recently  to  the  House  of  Com- 
mons that  the  Government  did  not  intend  to  exercise  its  right ; but  the  public  want 
a more  definite  statement.’^ 

The  decision  of  the  English  courts  that  “telephonic  commiinication  is  simply  a 
branch  of  the  telegraphic  service”  is  very  interesting  in  this  connection,  and  will  set 
many  people  in  the  United  States  to  thinking  whether  it  will  not  be  wise  to  destroy 
the  telephone  and  telegraph  monopolies  at  the  same  time  and  relieve  an  oppressed 
public  of  the  burdens  of  interest  and  dividends  on  several  hundred  millions  of  watered 
telephone  stocks.  It  is  a fact  that  can  be  promptly  demonstrated  that  telephone 
charges  are  vastly  in  excess  of  what  is  reasonable  and  just,  and  the  public  is  fully 
aware  of  the  unsatisfactory  and  ineffective  service  that  is  for  tne  most  part  rendered. 
We  believe  that  Congress  should  give  early  consideration  to  the  (question  raised  by 
the  memorialists  of  the  Senate  committee  on  postal  affairs,  and  that  the  Postmaster-' 
General  should  give  it  attention  in  connection  with  his  efforts  to  secure  Government 
control  of  the  telegraph.  The  monopoly’ of  electric  communication  in  every  form  should 
be  forever  broken  up  and  the  public  served  by  the  agents  of  a responsible  govern- 
ment at  the  actual  cost  of  the  service. 

[Cliicago  Tribune,  August  4.] 

Col.  Abner  Taylor  is  a convert  to  the  idea  of  a postal-telegraph  system  controlled  by 
the  Government.  He  began  to  study  the  subject  last  winter,  and  the  result  was  the 
introduction  by  the  First  district  member  of  a bill  which  provided  for  a complete  Gov- 
ernment system.  Colonel  Taylor’s  bill  was  broader  than  th,e  one  prepared  at  the  Post- 
Office  Department.  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  would  be  satislied  to  get  legisla- 
tion which  is  only  a starter  in  tbe  direction  of  jiostal  telegraphy,  but  Colonel  Taylor 
is  one  of  those  members  who  believe  that  half-way  plans  are  not  apt  to  give  satisfac- 
tion, and  he  wants  the  experimeut  thoroughly  tried.  The  House  subcommittee  some 
time  ago  postponed  action  on  the  subject  until  next  session  on  the  plea  that  there  was 
no  public  demand.  It  however  invited  Colonel  Taylor  to  a])pear  before  it  and  explain 
his  bill,  which  he  will  do.  The  colonel  has  gatheretl  a good  deal  of  official  literature 
on  Government  telegraphy  abroad  and  he  thinks  the  evidence  will  show  that  the  sys- 
tem is  a success  and  Avorthy  of  adoption  by  the  United  States. 

[Liberty  (N.  Y.)  Register,  Augusts.] 

Postmaster-General  AYanamaker  seems  to  have  solved  the  problem  of  postal 
telegraph.  This  is  the  only  Government  in  the  world  that  does  not  iu  part  at  least 
control  and  operate  a telegraph  system.  The  cost  of  telep’aphing  to  the  people  in 
Great  Britain  for  instance  is  50  per  cent,  less  than  in  this  country.  The  principal 
objection  to  postal  telegraph  heretofore  has  been  that  it  would  multiply  to  such  an 
extent  the  number  of  the  employes  of  the  Government  that  it  would  be  almost  impos- 
sible to  defeat  a party  <»ncein  power.  Mr.  Wanamaker,  who  is  a thorough,  practical 
business  man  proposes  that  the  GoAmrnment  contract  with  existing  telegraph  com- 
panies to  transmit  telegrams  the  same  as  they  now  contract  with  railroads  to  carry 
the  mails,  and  that  at  all  free  delivery  offices  a telegraph  office  be  located  at  the  post- 
office  and  that  the  messages  shall  be  delivered  by  the  regular  employiSs  of  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  telegraph  companies  are  to  provide  all  materials,  to  pay  all  the  ex- 
penses, and  to  provide  all  the  operators.  The  Government  to  pay  the  telegraph  com- 
panies a fair  remuneration  for  transmitting  messages.  By  this  method  the  cost  of 
telegraphing  to  the  public  would  be  decreased  at  least  one-half.  Telegraph  stamps 
would  be  sold  at  the  post-office  the. same  as  postage  stamps  are  now  sold.  There  are 
now  three  bills  before  Congress  providing  for  postal  telegraph.  If  any  are  adopted 
it  will  doubtless  be  the  bill  based  on  this  system  proposed  by  Mr.  AVanamaker. 


[Indiana  (Pa.)  Gazette,  August  27.] 

I 

Postmaster-General  John  AVanamaker  has  some  substantial  schemes  on  h^iaid  for 
the  betterment  of  the  public  other  than  the  exclusion  of  Tolstoi’s  naughty  “ Kreutzer 
Sonata from  the  mails.  To  a correspondent  at  peaceful  Saratoga  Mr.  AVanahiaker 
unfolded  some  of  the  little  plans  nearest  his  heart.  First,  he  said  : 

“The  postal  telegraph  is  bound  to  come  some  time.  It  may  not  come  during  my 
administration  of  the  Department,  but  the  people  have  the  right  to  have  their  infor- 
mation forwarded  iu  this  way  as  well  as  by  mail,  and  I expect  to  see  the  time  when 
there  will  be  a postal  telephone.  I believe  that  telegrams  would  be  more  sacred 
under  the  Government  than  they  are  in  the  hands  of  private  corporations,  and  they 


94 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


\vouId  have  all  the  sanctity  that  the  mails  have  to-day.”  Then  he  warmed  up  and 
went  one  better : 

*‘‘Tbe  postal  savings  bank  will  also  be  a thing  of  the  future,  and  if  we  could  have  i 
these  they  would  be  especially  valuable  in  bringing  the  South  closer  to  the  general  | 
government.  The  United  States  in  this  way  becomes  the  banker  of  the  common  < 
people,  and  confidence  and  trust  go  with  the  man  or  institution  to  whom  you  intrust  i 
your  money.” 

Mr.  Wanamaker  might  give  away  all  the  suits  and  stockings  in  his  store  and  not 
win  as  many  thanks  as  if  he  were  to  carry  iuto  elfect  just  one  of  the  plans  outlined  'I 
above.  One  would  be  a sufficient  task  for  one  man  in  one  term  of  office.  The  aboli-  ^ 
tion  of  the  present  telegraph  companies  would  mean  grappling  with  one  of  the  biggest  ! 
corporations  in  the  country.  But  if  Mr.  Wanamaker  wants  to  be  President  some  j 
day  he  couldn’t  play  a better  card  with  the  people  than  the  institution  of  a postal  J 
telegraph  and  tele}) hone.  i 

The  Postmaster-General  has  another  idea  that’s  a good  one,  although  smaller.  He 
wants  to  make  mail  agents  of  country  school  teachers.  He  says  ; J 

“ 1 will  have  the  postmasters  of  these  school  districts  send  the  mail  for  the  families  ^ 
represented  in  the  school  to  these  school  teachers,  and  will  pay  them  something  to  > 
give  out  the  letters  and  papers  once  a day  to  the  scholars  to  carry  them  home  to  their 
families.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  postal  facilities  of  the  country  might  be  very  much  < 
increased  in  this  way.”  ; 

Good  again ! 


[Denver  (Colo.)  Eepublican,  September  5.] 

The  history  of  the  postal  telegraph  in  England,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Heaton,  who  was  ' 
prominently  connected  with  the  establishing  of  the  postal-telegraph  systena  in  that  : 
country,  shows  that  postal  telegraphy  has  many  advantages  over  the  private  coni-  ^ 
pauy  system,  and  that  it  can  be  conducted  with  profit  to  the  Government. 

The  first  step  taken  in  the  establishment  of  postal  telegraphy  in  England  was  the 
purchase  of  the  lines  and  equipment  of  certain  companies  at  that  time  doing  the  tel-  ’ 
egraph  business  of  the  countr3^  The  Government  paid  about  $40,(100,000  more  than  , 
the  property  of  these  companies  was  worth,  and  this  excess  in  payment  has  been  a , 
burden  upon  the  postal-telegraph  system  since  that  day.  But  it  appears  that  at  last  ■ 
the  Government  is  securing  a profit  upon  the  business.  It  should  be  considered  in  • 
this  connection  that  rates  upon  messages  were  very  much  reduced  after  the  Govern- 
ment purchased  the  telegraph  lines.  The  telegraph  business  was  increased  in  con-  ^ 
sequence  of  this  reduction,  and’ so  the  receipts  have  grown  to  be  greater  than  the  1 
expenses. 

Postal  telegraphy  has  several  advantages  over  the  private  system,  consiiicuous  ' 
among  which  are  cheaper  rates  of  sending  messages  and  the  greater  confidence  which  - 
the  public  has  in  the  secrecy  of  the  business.  People,  it  seems,  do  not  have  as  much  , 
confidence  in  the  employds  of  a private  company  as  they  do  in  the  employes  of  the  ; 
Government.  This  lack  of  confidence  interfered  with  the  telegraph  business  of  Eng- 
land before  the  postal  system  was  established.  i 

There  is  no  doubt  that  if  postal  telegraphy  were  established  in  this  country  it  ; 
could  be  made  self-sustaining  in  the  course  of  time.  The  cost  to  the  people  of  send-  ■ 
iug  messages  would  bo  very  much  less  than  it  is  now,  and  as  a natural  result  the  bus- 
iness of  the  telegraph  would  be  very  largely  increased.  But  there  is  a great  deal  of- 
opposition  to  any  attempt  to  introduce  postal  telegraphy.  The  existing  telegraph 
companies,  and  more  particularly  the  Western  Uuion,  can  bring  to  bear  a powerful 
inriuence  upon  the  members  of  Congress  and  the^'-  do  not  fail  to  exert  this  influence 
whenever  an  attempt  is  made  to  establish  a postal-telegraph  system.  This  ought  to 
suggest  to  the  public  the  danger  to  be  feared  from  the  power  of  a great  corporation 
like  the  Western  Union.  It  has  altogether  too  much  iuHueuce  upon  legislation  in, 
Congress. 

Unless  the  power  of  the  Western  Union  and  other  telegraph  corporations  shall 
I)rove  to  be  greater  than  public  sentiment,  postal  telegraphy  will  sooner  or  later  be' 
established  in  the  United  States,  for  it  is  indirect  line  with  the  natural  develoj:fment , 
ot  the  postal  service.  There  is  no  more  reason  why  the  Government  should  take 
charge  of  the  transmission  of  letters  and  newspapers  than  of  the  transmission,  of  tele- 
graphic messages.  The  telegraph  system  would  bo  as  natural  a branch  of  the  postal: 
servi<^‘.  as  the  mail  system  if  it  were  permitted  to  grow.  The  Post-Office  Department 
will  not  be  doing  its  full  work  until  it  includes  the  telegraph  service. 

[Joliet  (111.)  Xews.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  great  Western  Uuion  Telegraph  Company,  in 
his  statements  respecting  the  [lending  }>ostal  telegraph  bill  before  the  House  Com-; 
mittec  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Koads,  naturally  endeavors  to  throw  cold  water  on  the 
plan  [U’oiioseil  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker.  Mr.  Green  contends  that  the 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


95 


Government  could  not  successfully  conduct  a telegTax)h  plant,  and  by  a preponder- 
ance of  evidence  in  the  way  of  figures  and  conclusions  drawn  therefrom,  tries  to 
bewilder  the  House  committee  with  the  huge  responsibilities  involved  in  the  un- 
dertaking. That  the  proposed  scheme  means  a contract  of  no  small  dimensions  no 
one  will  deny,  but  that  the  Government,  with  its  unlimited  resources  of  brain  and 
muscle,  is  unequal  to  the  task  is  unreasonable,  in  the  light  of  its  wonderful  progress 
in  the  past.  Take  the  postal  service,  for  instance.  There  is  no  business  in  the  coun- 
try embracing  such  a wide  and  varied  range  of  details,  all  of  which  demand  the 
closest  attention  of  those  in  charge.  Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Government  has 
built  up  a service  that  gives  popular  satisfaction — excepting,  possibly,  in  the  political 
features  that  arise.  The  Government  should  not  be  frightened  by  President  Green’s 
assertions.  He  is  an  able  manager  and  no  doubt  possesses  a fund  of  information  re- 
garding the  telegraph  business,  in  this  instance,  however,  his  position  is  that  of 
the  fox  lecturing  the  chickens,  and  Mr.  Green  only  demonstrates  his  loyalty  as  a good 
employ^  when  he  says  the  Government  can  not  conduct  the  Western  Union’s  business. 
Postmaster  Wanamaker’s  plan  is  in  the  line  of  the  practical,  thinking  economists  of 
the  day,  and  the  people  are  anxious  to  have  Uncle  Sam  take  hold. 


[Philadelphia  Item.]  » 

In  his  statement  to  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  the  Postmaster- 
General  was  so  clear,  so  strong,  so  admirable,  so  just,  that  he  carried  conviction  to 
every  mind.  In  this  important  matter  of  the  telegraph,  as  in  other  matters,  Mr. 
Wauamaker  is  struggling  for  the  public  good.-  He  thinks  the  bill  should  be  passed 
giving  the  Postmaster-General  the  right  to  fix  the  rate,  and  to  allow  it  to  be  changed 
from  time  to  time. 

He  says:  “ If  i was  a member  of  the  Congress,  and  not  the  Postmaster-General,  I 
would  advocate  that  proposition.” 

Mr.  Wanamaker  disclaims  all  personal  feeling.  He  says  : “ No  matter  who  is  hurt, 
we  have  all  got  to  stand  aside  for  the  public  good.”  There  you  have  the  whole  argu- 
ment. Pro  hono  jyuhlico.  This  is  fidelity.  It  is  courage.  It  is  patriotism. 

The  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  is  working  diligently  for  the  good  of 
the  people,  and  they  are  ably  assisted  by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  the  Postmaster-General, 
who  is  always  at  his  i)ost  and  ever  striving  for  good  results. 

The  committee  consists  of  Bingham,  Evans,  Montgomery,  Beckwith,  Blount,  and 
Turpin.  All  superior,  and  they  are  earnestly  for  reform,  progress,  and  safety,  as  sug- 
gested and  pressed  by  the  Postmaster-General. 

During  the  last  thirty  years  the  telegraph  has  exerted  a most  important  influence 
on  the  affairs  of  the  country  ; but  never  has  it 'served  any  one  or  anything  so  faith- 
fully as  itself.  It  has  ever  been  used  selfishly,  especially  during  the  war  in  times  of 
great  peril. 

The  history  of  the  telegraph,  as  related  before  the  committee,  is  most  admonitory 
and  full  of  interest  and  warning. 

The  testimony  of  Editor  Rosewater,  of  the  Omaha  Bee,  is  highly  important,  an  ad- 
monition, indeed,  to  the  Government  and  to  the  people.  He  was  for  thirteen  years 
actively  engaged  in  the  telegraph  service.  For  twenty-five  years  he  has  been  of  the 
opinion  that  the  safety  of  this  Government  demands  the  control  of  the  telegraph  sys- 
tem by  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Government,  postal  or  otherwise. 

This  testimony,  from  an  experienced,  thoughtful,  patriotic  gentleman,  is  of  the 
highest  importance,  and  it  establishes  the  position  and  justifies  the  fears  of  Mr.  Wana- 
maker, showing  that  his  sagacity  and  instinctive  forecast  are  masterly. 

All  this  sustains  the  opinions  that  the  Item  has  expressed  of  the  Postmaster-Gen- 
eral, and  proves  his  eminent  fitness  for  the  Postmaster-Generalship. 

We  hope  that  the  Congress  will  approve  of  his  suggestions  and  carry  them  out. 


[Boston  Advertiser.! 

The  chances  for  a system  of  postal  telegraph  are  better  than  they  ever  were  before. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  of  that  much.  With  the  exception  of  the  Western  Union 
people,  nearly  every  one  who  appeared  before  the  Post-  Office  Committee  was  in  favor 
of  the  postal  telegraph  scheme.  A.  B.  Chandler,  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company, 
was  hardly  in  favor  of  it,  but  his  opposition  was  not  at  all  vigorous,  and  he  appeared 
undecided  in  his  mind  as  to  the  exact  merits  or  demerits  of  the  scheme.  But  the  tes- 
timony of  D.  H.  Bates,  Hon.  J.  M.  Varnum,  Ralph  Beaumont,  and  the  others  refutes 
Norvin  Green’s  arguments,  and  leaves  the  Postmaster-General’s  scheme  unimpaired. 
Mr.  Bates,  for  instance,  appeared  as  the  representative  of  a party  of  capitalists  who 
stood  ready  to  build  a complete  system  of  telegraph  lines  if  the  postal  telegraph  bill 
becomes  a law.  Norvin  Green  said  he  could  not  afford  to  send  a message  at  the  low 
rate  which  is  desired.  Chandler  said  he  thought  it  would  be  difficult  to  do  business 


96 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


at  such  a rate  aud  make  a profit.  Bates  and  bis  fellow-capitalists  (and  Bates  knows  I 
more  about  the  telegraph  business  than  most  telegraph  men)  are  perfectly  willing  to  i 
take  the  contract.  ' 

[Pittsburgh  Despatch.] 

\ 

It  is  interestinV  to  observe  that  Dr.  Norvin  Green  is  so  wrought  up  over  Postmaster- 
General  Wauamaker’s  efforts  in  behalf  of  postal  telegraphy  as  to' denounce  him  be-  j 
fore  the  Congressional  committee  as  having  issued  an  order  of  confiscation,  and  to 
declare  that  he  had  no  right  to  “ coach  the  committee.”  1 

As  to  the  first  point — if  it  can  be  dignified  by  that  term — we  do  not  observe  by  the  ^ 
stock  quotations  that  either  Mr.  Green  or  his  associates  have  made  auj^  difference  in 
the  price  at  which  they  will  sell  their  shares  in  the  confiscated  property.  As  to  the  1 
second,  it  is  likelj'  that  the  country  will  recognize  the  same  right  on  the  part  of  the  ' 
Postmaster-General  to  coach  a Congressional  committee  on  a matter  of  postal  policy, 
that  Mr.  Green  has  to  coach  it  in  the  interest  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph. 

Norvin  Green’s  bitterness  against  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  project  can  be  taken  as  evi-  3 
* dence  that  the  Postmaster-General  is  working  for  the  public  interest.  « Mr.  Green’s  ^ 
attitude  for  years  has  been  that  this  countrj'  was  made  for  the  enrichment  of  his 
especial  corporation.  j 

[Pittsburgh  Times.]  . 

Dr.  Green,  the  i)resideut  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  emphasizes  | 
what  he  states  as  a fact,  to  wit,  that  the  postal  telegraph  system  of  England  is  con-  J 
ducted  at  a loss.  Hence,  says  he,  it  would  be  unwise  to  adopt  it  here.  The  post-ofiSce  \ 
system  of  the  United  States  is  conducted  at  a loss  and  there  is  small  prospect  of  a j 
year  when  there  will  be  no  deficit.  According  to  the  argument  employed  against  the  J 
])ostal  telegraph,  the  post-office  system  of  the  United  'States  should  be  abolished.  ^ 
It  has  never  been  the  serious  aim  of  the  Post-Office  Department  in  recent  years  to  j 
bring  its  expenses  within  the  revenues.  As  the  people’s  Department  it  has  been  man-  1 
aged  to  confer  on  the  jjeople  the  greatest  benefit.  Dr.  Green  says  the  deficit  entailed  j 
by  the  postal  telegraph  would  have  to  be  made  up  by  those  who  did  not  use  it,  who,  j 
he  says,  would  be  by  far  the  greatest  number.  This  is  precisely  the  case  as  i^o  the  1 
mail  system  of  the  country.  He  said  gamblers,  speculators,  and  immoral  classes  | 
were  the  great  patrons  of  the  Western  Union,  and  it  was  from  this  source  that  a large  ij 
part  of  the  Western  Union’s  revenues  were  derived,  therefore,  the  Government  should  j 
not  go  into  the  business.  The  good  doctor  expressed  no  regrets  that  the  Western' .5 
Union  was  in  the  business,  but  was  concerned  for  the  Government.  The  mails  are  ^ 
extensively  used  by  gamblers,  stock  and  other  gamblers.  Jay  Gould,  owner,  being  a ^ 
dead-head.  If  the  argument  of  the  doctor  is  good  for  anything  it  is  only  as  an  argu- 
ment  why  the  Government  should  go  out  of  the  mail  business  and  give  it  up  to  the  ' 
Western  Union.  That  would  suit  Mr.  Gould  unquestionably.  If  Jay  Gould,  speak-  ^ 
ing  through  Dr.  Green,  has  no  better  arguments  than  these  to  offer  why  the  postal 
telegraph  should  not  be  set  up,  then  few  persons  will  be  convinced.  j 

, [Grand  Island  (Nebr.)  Independent.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has 
been  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices,  and  has  tried  to  convince  this  com-  ! 
mittee  that  our  Postmaster-General’s  jjlan  for  the  introduction  of  a kind  of  postal  ■ 
telegraph  must  be  a failure,  because  the  Government  would  have  to  lose  money  aud  ' 
the  public  would  not  gain  anything  by  it.  If  the  Western  Union  was  certain  of  such  i 
a result.  Dr.  Green  would  be  the  last  mau  to  oppose  AVanamaker’s  proposition,  be- 
cause such  a failure  would  secure  the  present  telegraph  company’s  monopoly  for  a 
long  time  to  come.  It  is  a great  deal  more  probable  that  Dr.  Green  is  insincere  in 
his  whole  statement  that  he  does  not  at  all  intend  to  protect  against  loss  the  United  , 
States,  but  the  monetary  interests  of  his  company  and  its  power  to  rob  at  its  pleasure  ; 
by  unreasonable  charges  all  those  who  are  compelled  to  use  the  telegraph.  It  may  ' 
be  doubted  even  whether  the  telegraph  company  will  lose  anything  by  reduced 
charges  as  the  business  will  increase  enormously. 

At  any  rate  it  is  worth  while  to  try  the  Postmaster-General’s  plan,  which  we  be- 
lieve will  be  quite  a success  ami  lead  to  more  improvements  in  the  same  line.  Aud 
that  is  just  exactly  what  Dr.  Green  and  his  company  is  afraid  of. 

The  ])re8ident  of  theAVestern  Union  Telegraph  Company  appears  to  be  greatly  afraid 
that  the  Government  can  not  m.ike  a success  of  a postal  telegraph  system.  Of  course 
he  cares  more  for  the  General  Government  fhan  for  his  own  company,  and  argues 
purely  from  his  greater  concern  for  the  Government,  which  he  says  can  not  conduct 
the  business  as  cheaply  as  his  company.  And  if  not,  pray  why  not  ? Has  not  the 
General  Government  conducted  the  postal  business  cheaper  and  better  than  any. 
l)rivate  corporation  on  earth  would,  and  attbrded  better  facilities  to  the  people,  pro- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


97 


r 


viding  good  mail  privileges  in  localities  where  jn-ivate  corporations  would  have  pro- 
vided none  at  all  because  it  would  not  pay  in  that  particular  locality.  President 
Green  declares  that  at  some  post-offices  there  would  not  he  sufficient  business  to  meet 
expenses.  Does  he  not  know  that  the  same  is  true  of  mail  facilities  now,  and  for  the 
reason  that  a locality  is  in  but  the  struggling  stage  of  development,  does  he  think  it 
ought  to  be  deprived  of  these  facilities  if  they  can  be  provided,  and  the  system  as  a 
whole  made  to  pay  ? This  argument  of  his  is  one  of  the  very  strongest  that  could  be 
made  for  giving  us  a postal  telegraph  system  in  harmony  with  our  postal  system,  and 
upon  a somewhat  similar  plan.  The  Western  Union  pays  large  salaries,  pays  divi- 
dends on  actual  and  watered  stocks,  and  makes  mints  of  money.  Would  it  not  be 
better  for  the  people  for  the  General  Government  to  afford  better  facilities  to  the  peo- 
ple at  actual  cost,  and  in  that  way  could  not  the  rates  be  reduced  to  at  least  the  ex- 
tent of  the  profits  of  the  private  corporations?  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is 
upon  the  right  track,  and  if  he  pushes  his  measure  to  success  a grateful  people  will 
rejoice  and  thank  him,  and  generations  to  come  will  bless  him. 

The  general  verdict  must  be  that  President  Green,  of  the  Western  Union,  lost  his 
head  and  made  a fool  of  himself  in  his  argument  before  the  Hou.se  Committee  on  Post- 
Offices  and  Post-Roads.  He  proved  himself  a man  of  smaller  brain  capacity  and  self 
control  than  one  has  a right  to  expect  from  a person  holding  such  a high  position. 
He  made  a splendid  showing  of  the  necessity  for  establi.shing  postal  telegraph,  while 
no  doubt  intending  to  do  directly  the  opposite. 

[Irish  World.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  .shown  the  public  that  he  has  been  .studying 
to  some  profit  the  best  interests  of  the  great  department  of  the  Government  intrusted 
to  his  direction.  He  has  submitted  to  Congress  for  adoption  a proposition  to  estab- 
lish a telegraph  service  in  connection  with  the  post-office,  which  is  certainly  worthy 
i of  a fair  trial,  as  it  promises  at  small  cost  to  place  within  the  reach  of  the  public  a 
i system  of  telegraphic  communication  at  a fraction  of  the  rates  now  paid  to  the  tele- 
graph companies  and  messenger  deliveries.  Mr.  Wanamaker  mentions  the  pertinent 
fact  that  during  the  past  twenty  years  the  Government  has  paid  to  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  about  1100,000,000,  and  he  proposes  to  lessen  that  expense  and 
at  the  same  time  give  the  public  a cheaper  service  in  the  transmission  of  such  mes- 
sages as  the  Post-Office  Department  may  conveniently  handle. 

There  are  nearly  60,000  post-offices  in  the  country,  all  situated  with  special  reference 
to  the  greatest  convenience  of  the  people.  There  are  less  than  half  that  number  of 
telegraph  stations  operated  .solely  as  money-making  enterprises  by  the  Western  Union 
and  other  corporations.  The  Postmaster-General  does  not  propose  to  buy  out  any  of 
those  corporations  or  construct  an  independent  system,  but  to  lease  on  the  best  terms 
such  lines  as  could  be  operated  in  certain  post-offices  to  the  public  advantage.  A 
' large  part  of  the  telegraph  and  special  messenger  service  contemplated  by  the  Post- 
master-General could  be  transacted  with  the  present  force  of  employes,  so  that  the 
‘ extra  cost  would  be  comparatively  small  and  the  rates  to  the  people  for  their  current 
messages  could  be  greatly  reduced. 

Opinions  vary  as  to  the  expediency  of  the  Government  assuming  control  of  the  en- 
tire telegraph  .system  of  the  country  as  has  been  done  by  England  and  Germany,  but 
there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  ground  for  objection  to  the  practical  and  business-like 
proposition  of  the  Postmaster-General,  and  there  is  every  likelihood  that  the  bill 
recommended  by  him  or  another  embodying  its  main  provisions  will  be  speedily 
enacted  by  Congress. 


[San  Francisco  Bulletin.] 

In  his  annual  report  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  outlined  his  idea  of  a postal 
telegraph  service.  A bill  is  now  before  Congress  embodying  his  plan.  It  authorizes 
the  Postmaster- General  to  contract  with  telegraph  companies  for  the  use  of  wires 
between  towns  having  free  letter  deliveries,  the  messages  to  be  taken  out  by  the  let- 
ter-carriers on  their  regular  routes.  The  Department  will  decide  upon  rates  and  the 
extent  of  .service. 

Such  a service  would  be  partial  and  experimental.  Partial  because  it  would  be  too 
slow  for  the  commercial  and  speculative  service  which  now  makes  up  about  seven- 
eighths  of  the  telegraph  business.  The  main  object  of  the  Government  would  be  to 
cheapen  and  popularize  the  service.  It  would  require  a very  large  reduction  in  rates 
to  bring  it  into  general  use  for  purposes  of  correspondence  other  than  those  which 
require  the  greatest  promptness.  How  can  the  Government  do  by  contract  with  the 
telegraph  companies  much  better  than  they  can  and  will  do  themselves?  They  will 
not  lease  their  lines  except  at  a profit,  and  that  would  not  leave  the  Government  a 
very  large  margin  for  reduction. 

As  an  experiment  this  scheme  can  not  be  conclusive  as  to  the  advantages  or  disad- 

P T 7 


98 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


vantages  of  Government  operation  of  the  telegraph.  It  would,  in  fact,  operate  it  less 
than  it  now  operates  the  carrying  of  the  mails.  The  Government  carries  all  the  mails 
hy  contract,  while,  by  this  plan,  it  will  only  carry  a small  part  of  the  telegraph  bus- 
iness. Postal  telegraphy  in  its  full  development  contemplates  the  ownership  and 
operation  of  the  whole  business  by  the  Government.  Its  prospective  advantages  are 
estimated  upon  the  success  which  has  attended  the  development  of  Government  mail- 
carrying.  As  a matter  of  fact  the  Government  does  not  carry  the  mails.  It  puts  up 
expensive  post-office  buildings  (sometimes)  at  a cost  for  site  and  construction  largely 
in  excess  of  what  a private  person  or  corporation  would  pay,  at  which  it  receives  and 
distributes  mails  in  a reasonably  satisfactory  manner  on  the  average,  although  the  ex- 
press companies  usually  beat  it  on  delivery.  The  rest  of  the  business  is  done  by  the 
private  or  corporate  enterprise  of  stage  lines,  railroads,  etc.,  which  carry  the  mails 
from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  by  contract.  What  the  result  would  be  if  the 
Government  owned  and  operated  these  lines  of  communication  is  purely  a matter  of 
speculation.  With  their  present  light  the  American  people  would  be  slow  to  try  that 
experiment. 

Something  of  a parallel  nature,  however,  is  the  logical  outcome  of  this  proposed 
experiment  in  postal  telegraphy.  It  can  hardly  exist  permanently  in  connection  with 
corporate  service.  Eventually  the  Government  must  do  the  whole  work  or'retire  from 
the  business.  The  former  will  involve  ownership  and  the  operation  of  the  lines  as 
well  as  the  receipt  and  delivery  of  messages'  because  the  telegraph,  unlike  stage  and 
steam  lines,  performs  only  the  single  function  of  carrying  messages.  Foreign  experi- 
ence affords  no  assured  data  for  an  opinion  as  to  the  advantages  of  such  a service. 
In  England  the  Government  charges  a,  regular  rate  equal  to  one  Cent  a word,  including 
address  and  signature.  Comparing  the  density  of  population  and  the  short  distances 
in  England  with  those  of  the  United  States,  this  does  not  seem  to  be  an  excessively 
cheap  rate,  yet  the  Government  loses  money  on  it  every  year.  So  far  as  English  con- 
ditions permit  a comparison,  the  prospect  is  not  conclusively  in  favor  of  postal  teleg- 
raphy in  the  United  States. 

It  will  do  no  harm  to  make  the  experiment  in  partial  postal  telegraphy  proposed 
by  Mr.  Wanamaker,  provided  the  partial  results  obtained  shall  not  be  accepted  as 
conclusive  regarding  further  development  of  the  business.  The  movement,  however, 
is  notin  line  with  the  policy  which  is  coming  to  be  recognized  in  this  country  as 
wisest  in  connection  with  quasi-public  corporations  as  common  carriers.  In  railroad- 
ing, corporate  ownership  and  operation  under  Government  regulation  is  believed  by 
most  authorities  and  the  public  to  offer  the  best  guaranties  for  cheap  and  effective 
service.  The  rule  is  more  applicable  to  telegraph  business,  because  it  is  far  simpler 
and  more  easily  regulated.  Much  of  the  demand  for  postal  telegraphy  arose  from 
the  fact  that  the  business  in  the  United  States  was  for  many  years  practically  in  the 
hands  of  a single  corporation.  Lately  a strong  competing  company  has  entered  the 
field,  and  is  gradually  extending  its  system  throughout  the  country.  If  not  absorbed 
by  its  older  rival,  it  offers  the  conditions  best  adapted  to  good  service — a reasonable 
and  wholesome  competition,  to  which  should  be  added  a just  and  effective  Govern- 
ment supervision.  There  would  then  be  less  reason  for  experimenting  in  Govern- 
ment telegraphy. 

[The  Financier.] 

Other  things  equal,  we  favor  anything  that  tends  to  give  the  people  a better-means 
of  interchanging  ideas.  We  understand  that  the  honorable  Postmaster  General  is 
striving  to  inaugurate  a postal  telegraph  system  which  will  permit — for  the  present 
at  least — night  telegraph  disi)atches  to  be  delivered  by  mail  carriers  in  the  morning, 
for  the  cost  of  letter  postage. 

The  whole  plan  may  be  found  in  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  fiscal  report,  and  so  far  as  we 
now  see  the  subject,  it  certainly  commends  itself  to  the  hearty  support  of  the  people. 

As  Mr.  Wanamaker  suggests,  it  might  be  tried,  and  its  advantages  learned  as  well 
as  the  unfoldment  of  ideas  likely  to  grow  out  of  it. 

Certainly  nobody  can  object  to  the  low-priced  service  he  now  recommends  before 
Congress. 

[Philadelphia  Bulletin.] 

The  postal-telegraph  bill,  which  is  in  the  hands  of  a committee  of  which  General 
Pingham,  of  this  city,  is  chairman,  will  listen  to  arguments  against  it  by  President 
Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Company,  and  to  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  in 
its  favor,  after  which  it  will  be  reported  to  the  House,  presumably  iu  its  favor. 
The  bill  provides  for  a limited  post  and  telegraph  service  under  the  Government 
auspices  iu  cities  where  the  free  delivery  service  now  exists,  through  the  various 
post-olfices.  The  Postmaster-General  is  authorized  to  make  contracts  with  telegraph 
companies  existing  or  to  be  incorporated,  on  the  best  obtainable  terms. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


99 


The  charges  are  to  be  not  more  thau  15  cents  for  less  than  300  miles  for  twenty 
words  or  less;  between  postal-telegraph  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and 
not  in  the  same  State,  east  of  and  including  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  Kentucky,  Ten- 
nessee, and  Mississippi,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less;  between  postal- 
telegraph  stations  not  less  than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State  or  Terri- 
tory, west  of  and  including  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Arkansas,  and  Louisiana, 
25  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less  ; between  i)ostal- telegraph  stations  not  less 
than  300  miles  apart  and  not  in  the  same  State,  25  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words 
or  less,  in  Alabama,  Arkansas,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Kentucky,  Louisiana,  Michi- 
gan, Minnesota,  Mississippi,  Missouri,  Tennessee,  and  Wisconsin  ; between  all  other 
postal-telegraph  stations  50  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  or  less.  The  charges 
for  all  words  in  excess  of  the  first  twenty  words  shall  be  at  the  rate  of  1 cent  per 
word. 

If  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Corax)any  can  make  millions  of  profit  by  its  system 
and  rates,  it  is  evident  that  the  Government,  which  will  be  satisfied  to  have  the 
postal  telegraph  self  supporting,  can  give  the  public  the  benefit  of  the  profit  in  cheap 
tolls,  especially  by  operating  in  cities,  where  the  telegraphic  service  is  always  re- 
munerative. If  the  Government  can  afford  to  carry  for  2 cents  a letter  which  express 
companies  charge  25  cents  for,  it  can  afford  to  make  similar  reductions  in  its  trans- 
mission of  telegrams.  , 


[Titusville  (Pa.)  Herald.] 

The  project  of  a postal  telegraph  urged  in  a masterly  argument  before  the  Post- 
Office  Committee  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  is  gaining  favor  in  Congress. 
The  Pittsburgh  Dispatch  says:  “Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  father-in-law  of  Prof. 
Alexander  Graham  Bell,  of  telephone  fame,  made  an  eloquent  closing  argument  in 
favor  of  the  project  of  a Government  telegraph,  and  Mr.  F.  B.  Thurber,  the  well- 
known  New  York  merchant,  representing  the  New  York  Board  of  Trade,  made  a pow- 
erful plea  of  a similar  character.’’  We  trust  that  the  coming  State  convention  of 
Pennsylvania  will  give  the  enterprise  its  moral  support  in  resolutions  of  strong  and 
pointed  indorsement.  It  is  a measure  in  the  interest  of  the  people  of  the  whole  coun- 
try, and  Congress  could  perform  scarcely  any  act  and  adopt  scarcely  any  measure 
which  would  more  certainly  earn  the  thanks  of  the  country  than  the  giving  the  peo- 
ple cheap  telegraph  in  their  business  and  social  affairs,  through  the  agency  of  the 
post-office. 

Let  the  Republican  party  have  the  credit  of  introducing  this  most  useful  and  pop- 
ular movement. 

There  is  no  department  of  the  United  States  Government  more  closely  connected 
with  the  .social  and  business  affairs  of  the  people  at  large  thau  tl.e  Post-Office  De- 
' partment,  and  a liberal  and  progressive  policy,  adapted  to  the  wants  of  society  and 
1 commerce  and  the  advancement  of  civilization,  should  be  pursued  and  kept  steadily 
' in  view. 

i It  is  gratifying  to  see  that  the  present  administration  is  alive  to  the  wants  of  the 
! country  and  demands  of  the  times  in  this  respect,  and  that  it  has  a Postmaster-Gen- 
eral of  large  views,  o'f  business  training  and  experience,  who  proposes,  so  far  as  his 
influence  goes,  so  far  as  his  influence  can  be  exerted,  to  place  tbs'  post-office  on  a 
business  basis,  and  to  promote  the  interests  and  convenience  of  the  business  classes 
and  of  the  people  at  large  by  adding,  from  time  to  time,  such  new  features  and  im- 
provements as  experience  suggests,  and  as  the  successful  example  of  other  nations 
seems  to  recommend  and  warrant  as  useful,  economical,  and  necessary. 


[Brooklyn  Times.] 

Those  who  have  accepted  the  narrow  partisan  view  of  Mr.  Wanamaker,  or  have 
sympathized  with  the  outcry  against  him  as  the  “ shop-keeper  of  the  Cabinet,”  must 
be  surprised  at  the  practical  knowledge,  the  rhetorical  ability,  the  grasp  of  his  sub- 
ject to  its  minutest  detail  which  he  exhibited  yesterday  when  he  appeared  before  the 
House  Committee  on  the  Post- Office  and  Post-Roads  to  argue  in  favor  of  a limited  postal 
telegraph.  Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  propose  a general  postal  telegraph  on  the  Eu- 
ropean plan  as  yet.  He  only  asks  that  a few  short  lines  be  leased  connecting  the 
principal  cities,  and  that  the  experiment  be  tried  thus  in  sensible  and  economical 
fashion.  His  plan  is  thus  summarized: 

“ He  was  not  proposing,  he  said,  that  the  Government  should  purchase  or  build  a 
telegraph  line,  nor  the  appropriation  of  a large  sum  from  the  Treasury,  but  simply 
the  utilization  of  the  office  buildings,  clerks,  and  carriers  now  in  use,  and  by  conveni- 
ence and  economy  of  service  greatly  to  accommodate  the  public  in  a business  that 
should  not  be  divorced  from  the  Post-Office,  as  it  was  nothing  more  or  less  than  the 
(iarrying  of  messages. 


100 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


“The  people  bad  uow  the  business  offices,  the  clerks,  -who  could  soon  learn  the  tick 
of  the  machines,  the  curriers  who  traveled  with  bundles  of  letters  over  the  same  streets 
traversed  by  telegraph  boys,  and  the  stamps  for  payment  that  dispense  with  book- 
keeping, and  ail  that  was  needed  to  build  up  the  new  service  was  authority  and  a 
wire,  and  a new  thrill  of  life  would  soon  be  felt  throughout  the  country.” 

The  country  has  paid  , 1100,000, 000  in  profits  to  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Com- 
pany in  twenty-three  years,  besides  paying  more,  for  the  expense  of  the  service  than 
it  would  have  cost  if  it  had  been  conducted  in  the  same  offices  as  the  postal  busi- 
ness and  besides  putting  up  the  funds  for  such  destructive  competition  as  the  present 
monopoly  has  waged  with  its  weaker  rivals.  The  telegraph  business  ought  to  have 
been  a part  of  the  postal  department  from  the  first,  but  it  is  not  too  late  to  begin  even 
now  by  adopting  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  sensible  suggestion. 

[Xew  York  Mail  and  Express.] 

In  another  column  will  be  found  an  account  of  the  apx)earance  of  Mr.  A.  McKinley 
before  the  Congressional  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  in  behalf  of  the 
Essick  Printing  Telegraph. 

The  Mail  and  Express  has  made  repeated  allusions  to  this  system,  having  seen  its 
l)ractical  working  on  a line  over  600  miles  long,  running  from  New  York  to  Pittsburg,’ 
via  Oleau. 

This  system  is  simply  a long-distance  tyjje- writer,  by  which  the  ordinary  employes 
of  any  jjost-office  can  transmit  letters  and  type -write  them  in  page  form  at  the  distant 
end  of  either  long  or  short  wires.  A call  at  the  company’s  office,  No.  171  Broadway, 
will  secure  to  the  interested  an  exhibition  of  the  working  of  the  system,  where  day 
after  day  the  system  is  worked  between  Boston  and  New  York. 

This  is  certainly  the  greatest  advance  in  telegraphy  since  Morse  transmitted  his 
first  message  from  Washington  to  Baltimore. 

This  system  is  the  nucleus  of  a great  telegrajihic  enterprise.  By  it  there  can  be  no 
difficulty  in  putting  into  practical  operation  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker’s  scheme. 
By  it  all  the  new.spapers  within  a radius  of  500  miles  or  more  can  simultaneously  be 
supplied  with  the  current  news  by  a single  transmission  from  a central  office.  By  it 
the  stock  reports  can  be  delivered  in  the  same  manner  to  all  brokers  within  the  same 
radius.  It  is  a substitute  for  the  telephone,  making  a record  of  all  messages. 

Its  sux)eriority  over  the  Morse  system  is  in  the  fact  that  it  requires  no  receiving 
operator,  thus  dispensing  with  about  half  the  force,  and  what  is  transmitted  is  re- 
ceived wdth  absolute  certainty.  For  railroad  jiurposes  it  will  greatly"  lessen  the  lia- 
bility to  accidents  and  for  private  lines  it  is  indispensable. 


AGAINST  POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY  OR  NOT  EAVORARLE  TO  IT. 

[Philadelphia  Telegraph,  February  13.] 

It  was  to  be  ex^iected  that  the  Postmaster-General,  notwithstanding  the  many  and 
vigorous  criticisms  of  his  postal  telegraph  scheme,  would  earnestly  press  it  on  the 
attention  of  Congress.  Before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  yesterday  the 
plan  was  presented  in  detail,  and  presumably  the  strongest  jioints  possible  made  in 
its  favor.  Tho  Postmaster-General  insisted  that  his  plan  was  “practical  and  free 
from  valid  objections.”  Such  a sweeping  claim  as  this,  in  view  of  the  statements 
previously  made,  shows  how  even  the  brightest-minded  men  will  sometimes  deceive 
themselves  through  their  zealous  devotion  to  an  idea.  For  instance,  it  is  proposed 
to  x)rovide  for  the  delivery  of  the  telegrams  coming  over  the  wires  leased  by  the 
Government  by  the  mail-carriers  in  the  first  delivery  following  the  receipt  of  the 
message.  Now,  it  is  as  clear  as  anything  can  be  that  this  means  one  of  two  things: 
First,  either  that  the  delivery  of  the  telegraph  message  is  simply  to  be  placed  on  the 
same  schedule  as  the  delivery  of  letters  by  carriers,  already  in  many  instances  over- 
burdened, and  this  would  mean  unreasonable  and  often  exasperating  delay,  or  a 
very  large  increase  in  the  number  of  Government  enqiloyds,  the  same  of  course  being 
just  so  much  of  an  addition  to  the  already  unwieldy  and  almost  uncontrollable  and 
more  or  less  demoralizing  jiolitical  machine.  There  are  many  other  imints  of  “ valid 
objection,”  showing  that  this  latest  iiostal  telegraph  scheme  is  not  practical  or  desir- 
able, but  this  is  one  that  will  become  apparent  to  every  intelligent  man. 

fPhiladelpbia  Record,  February  13.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  jiresents  his  plan  of  a limited  postal  telegraph 
with  much  force  and  plausibility.  But  in  its  restricted  form  this  measure  must  bo 
regarded  as  n first  aiid  a long  stride  toward  the  complete  Government  absorjition  of 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


101 


i the  whole  telegraph  business  of  the  cuuutry.  Under  the  plan  outlined  by  the  Post- 
I inaster-Geueral  the  benefits  of  cheap  telegraphy  would  be  confined  to  cities  and  towns 
I that  had  a free  post-office  delivery.  But  once  carried  thus  far  it  would  not  be  long 
before  it  would  be  extended  to  every  village  i)ost-office,  and  a vast  Government  tele- 
graph system  would  be  only  a question  of  a little  time.  To  the  present  inconven- 
ience of  a private  telegraph  monopoly  would  succeed  a vast,  costly,  and  burdensome 
])ub]ic  monoiioly.  Resist  the  beginnings. 

[San  Francisco  Chronicle,  February  13.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  been  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post- 
Offices  and  Post-Roads  with  an  explanation  of  his  plan  for  the  institution  of  postal 
telegraphs.  He  submitted  a scheme  providing  for  the  lease  by  the  Government  for 
ten  years  of  wires  for  carrying  on  business  and  for  the  delivery  of  telegrams  by  car- 
riers at  the  first  delivery  following  the  receipt  of  the  telegram.  This  scheme,  he 
urged,  was  practical  and  free  from  objections. 

At  the  very  threshold,  however,  of  his  plan  there  appears  a very  serious  objection, 
which  is  that  the  portion  of  the  public  which  makes  the  most  use  of  the  wires  would 
not  be  satisfied  to  wait  for  its  dispatches  until  they  could  be  delivered  in  the  regular 
course  of  mail  delivery.  The  very  essence  of  a telegram  is  the  immediate  transmis- 
sion of  news  and  information,  and  no  one  would  be  willing  to  .iwait  the  very  deliber- 
ate movements  of  the  letter-carriers  to  receive  a message  which  might  tje  upon  a 
matter  of  life  and  death. 

Mr.  Wanamaker  is  quite  right  in  saying  that  the  transmission  of  news  by  wire  is 
within  the  legitimate  work  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  and  that  the  people  are 
justified  in  stoutly  demanding  telegraph  facilities  at  postal  stations:  but  he  will 
have  to  decide  upon  a better  plan  than  the  one  he  has  outlined  before  the  people  will 
take  kindly  to  the  postal  telegraph.  If  a message  is  delayed  half  an  hour  in  trans- 
mission or  delivery  under  the  present  system  the  recipient  files  a formal  complaint  at 
the  central  office,  and  the  official  in  charge  admits  the  justice  of  his  complaint.  Under 
the  proposed  system  the  message  might  not  leave  the  office  for  two  hours  or  more 
after  its  receipt,  and  then  it  would  have  to  be  delivered  in  the  regular  course  of  the 
carrier’s  rounds,  which  might  mean  two  hours  more  of  delay. 

No  system  of  postal  telegraph  will  be  acceptable  which  does  not  give  as  good  serv- 
ice as  is  given  at  present,  and  a reduction  in  rates  would  not  compensate  fcr  the 
extra  time.  If  the  Government  goes  into  the  telegraph  business  it  will  have  to  pro- 
vide in  some  way  for  the  immediate  delivery  of  telegrams,  for  unless  it  does  it  can 
not  compete  with  the  telegraph  corporations  which  make  rapidity  an  essential  feature 
of  their  business. 

[Pittsburgh  Leader,  February  19.] 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  scheme  has  not  been  hailed  with  special  rejoic- 
ing by  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post  Roads,  which  has  under  consid- 
eration the  Postmaster-General’s  bill  formulating  his  idea  of  reform  in  the  Government 
telegraph  service.  President  Chandler,  of  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company,  put  the 
objections  to  the  project  in  a nut-shell  when  he  said  to  the  committee  : 

“ We  do  not  want  to  see  a Government  telegraph  established,  or  the  begining  of  a 
Government  telegraph  that  will  destroy  $7,000,000  or  $8,000,000  vrhich  we  have  in- 
vested in  this  property  and  make  it  valueless.  We  do  not  think  the  Government  has 
a right  to  do  that ; and  if  it  has  that  right,  we  think  it  would  be  unjust  and  very 
unreasonable  to  exercise  it.” 

The  justice  of  this  argument  is  manifest.  It  would  be  unfair  and  oppressive  for 
the  National  Government  to  enter  into  competition  with  a telegraph  company  or  with 
the  owners  of  any  other  private  enterprise  merely  for  the  sake  of  reducing  Government 
expenses  to  a minimum.  One  step  in  this  direction  has  already  been  taken  in  the 
monopolizing  of  the  mail  service.  Mr.  Wanamaker  wants  to  go  a step  farther  and 
monopolize  the  telegraphs,  and  if  his  recommendations  should  be  adopted,  it  is  only 
a question  of  time  until  the  railroads  and  pos.sibly  other  valuable  interests  are  brought 
under  Federal  control.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  game  will  be  blocked  in  its 
present  stage,  and  that  the  wisdom  of  the  committee  will  rise  superior  to  the  insist- 
ance  of  a bumptious  Cabinet  official. 

[Cincinnati  Commercial-Gazette,  February  19.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker,  from  an  early  day  in  his  official  life,  has  given 
himself  tribulation  about  the  telegraph.  His  views  have  had  an  interest  that  is  gen- 
eral ; first,  because  he  is  the  head  of  one  of  the  most  important  Departments  of  the 
Government,  and,  second,  because  he  had  before  he  assumed  duties  as  a i)ublic  officer 
a national  reputation  as  an  uncommonly  shrewd  and  capable  busine.ss  man. 


102 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILI'JTES. 


In  regard  to  the  relations  of  the  Government  with  the  telegraph,  in  that  which  he 
had  to  say  in  his  annual  report  and  accompanying  documents,  and  his  interview  the 
other  day  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads,  he  seems  to  be 
proceeding  upon  information  that  is  imperfect  and  to  be  leading  up  to  Eurd^iean  ideas, 
the  most  important  of  which  is  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  hold  x>os- 
session  of  the  telegraphic  system,  and  i)aternally  bestow  upon  the  peojde  at  large 
such  intelligence  as  it  is  the  jiolicy  of  the  authorities  to  im^iart. 

It  would  be  doing  the  Postmaster-General  an  injustice  to  assume  that  he  has  di- 
rectly indicated  a design  of  this  scope,  but  the  logic  of  the  observations  that  he  has 
made  and  the  suggestions  that  he  is  urging,  is  that  we  shall  have  a postal  telegrajihic 
system,  and  with  us  that  would  go  a great  way. 

His  recommendations  in  the  recent  consultation  with  the  committee  of  the  House 
having  jiostal  matters  in  charge,  amount  to  formulating  an  anxiety  to  furnish  addi- 
tional telegraiihic  facilities  where  they  are  already  abundant.  It  can  not  be  said  of 
any  of  the  considerable  American  cities  that  they  are  lacking  in  accommodations  for 
telegraphy,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  it  is  a legitimate  part  of  the  business  of  the 
Government  to  cultivate  on  the  part  of  the  i^eople  the  habit  of  using  the  wires. 

If  the  Government  should  go  into  postal  telegraph}^,  the  end  of  it  would  be  a tele- 
graph office  in  every  post-office  in  the  United  States.  There  are  forty-eight  thou- 
sand post-offices  and  eighteen  thousand  telegraph  offices  at  this  time.  Postal  teleg- 
raxihy  would  require  the  addition  of  thirty  thousand  offices.  The  cost  of  the  jilant, 
jmles,  wires,  and  instruments  would  be  enormous,  and  not  one  in  a hundred  of  the  ad- 
ditional facilities  would  be  self-sustaining.  The  telegraphic  service  in  the  United 
States  requires  178, 5.54  miles  of  poles,  and  647,697  miles  of  wires.  One  can  not  ascer- 
tain exactly  the  additional  pMes  and  wires  required  to  treble  the  number  of  telegraph 
offices,  but  certainly  something  more  than  double  those  in  existence  would  be  de- 
manded, and  calculations  show  that  about  $15,000,000  a year  would  be  needed  for 
maintenance,  and  that  without  messengers  and  with  no  responsibilitj"  for  delivery. 

It  would  interest  the  Postmaster-General  to  know,  if  he  has  not  x^icked  up  the  fact, 
that  of  the  sixty  million  pco])le  in  the  United  States,  only  about  one  million  use  the 
telegraxih,  and  it  would  hardly  be  a popular  measure  to  tax  sixty  peox^le  for  the  re- 
duction of  the  cost  of  an  accommodation  for  one,  and  we  are  not  aware  that  it  is 
XHiblic  x^olicy  to  x>romote  po])ular  telegraphy. 

The  Postmaster-General  has  been  interested  in  an  extraordinary  degree  in  the  cost 
of  telegrax)hing  to  the  Government,  and  has  apx)arently  formed  the  judgment  that  a 
great  deal  more  is  i^aid  for  messages  relating  to  Government  business  than  should  be 
charged.  Among  the  statistics  not  according  to  surface  indications  is  the  item  that 
pool-rooms  in  the  city  of  New  York  do  five  times  the  telegraphing  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  x^i’ess  receipts  with  which  Mr.  AVauamaker  is  so  fond  of 
comparing  the  cost  of  official  service,  amount  to  ten  times  the  expense  of  telegraxdiing 
to  the  Governnmnt.  It  is  one  of  the  favorite  projiositions  of  the  Postmaster-General 
that  the  service  of  the  Government  should  be  at  as  low  rates  as  for  the  Associated  Press, 
and  we  invite  him  to  know  that  in  a great  deal  done  for  the  xiress  the  words  delivered 
exceed  the  words  sent  ; thar  is  to  say,  a message  from  one  x)lace  is  many  times  multi- 
X^lied.  For  instance,  in  the  year  1889  there  were  sent  in  the  regular  service  of  the 
])ress  58,*27‘2,463  words,  while  there  were  received  at  all  stations  332,731,804  words. 
There  is  nothing  coiresxionding  to  this  in  official  telegraxihiug ; and  great  care  ought 
to  be  taken  in  making  comjiarisons  of  word  rates  that  they  should  conform  to  all  the 
conditions. 

The  number  of  words  in  Government  messages,  counting  address  and  signature, 
average  about  twenty-four,  twelve  for  the  address  and  signature,  and  tweh^e  for  the 
body  of  the  message.  It  is  especially  necessary  to  secure  certainty  of  delivery,  to 
give  an  officer’s  signature  and  address  comiilete,  and  that  is  the  custom.  In  the  aver- 
age of  other  messages  there  are  eight  words  for  the  address  and  signature,  and  thir- 
teen body  words.  It  should  not  reijuire  a gentleman  of  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  acuteness 
in  arithmetic  to  discover  that  there  would  not  be  anything  unfair  in  a higher  rate  for 
the  body-words  in  messages  whose  addresses  and  signatures  are  excexitionally  elab- 
orate, and  that  the  x>roposition  so  much  promulgated,  that  the  Government  should 
have  the  same  rate  given  the  Associated  Press,  counting  all  the  words  delivered  in 
half  a dozen  x>laces  sent  from  one,  is  founded  upon  misajiprehension. 

The  most  careful  comparison  of  the  ditferent  classes  of  telegraiihic  business,  shows 
that  the  speculative  is  about  48  jier  cent.,  tradii  34  per  cent.,  press  12  iier  cent.,  and 
social  8 jier  cent.  The siiedulative includes  AVall  street,  with  all  the  tinancial  centers, 
base-ball,  and  horse  racing — in  fact,  all  that  relates  to  the  affairs  of  enterprise  tinct- 
ured with  sporting  schemes  and  incidents.  It  will  be  noted  this  constitutes  almost 
one-half  of  the  business  of  the  telegraph  comnany,  and  it  will  not  seem  to  be  desirable 
to  the  farmers  andcountiy  peo]>le  at  large,  and  thecpiiet  dwellers  in  pleasant  A'illages 
and  the  smaller  towns,  that  they  should  be  taxed  to  cheapen  the  rates  at  which 
gamblers  in  stocks,  and  in  corn,  wheat  or  i)ork,  or  on  base-ball  or  horse  racing,  and 
other  advent  ures  and  games  of  chance,  and  strife  for  speed,  shall  xmy  forthe  telegraph 
til)s  that  put  them  on  the  inside. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


103 


Does  tbe'Postmaster-General  fancy  that  to  reduce  the  rates  for  the  sporting  people, 
charging  the  expense  to  the  general  account,  is  likely  to  he  a peculiarly  popular 
measure  ? Or  would  he  propose,  if  the  telegraph  were  in  the  grasp  of  the  Govern- 
ment, to  refuse  the  transmission  of  intelligence  promoting  schemes  of  speculation  or 
games  of  chance,  or  betting  on  the  hazards  of  athletic  Exercises,  and  would  one  of 
the  early  requirements  he  an  official  censorship  on  messages  by  telegraph?  Is  this 
the  entertainment  to  which  we  are  invited  ? 

The  Postmaster-General  assumes  that  the  public  good  would  be  accomplished  by 
increasing  the  volume  of  social  messages.  We  do  not  know  that  it  is  part  of  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  to  force  messages  over  the  wires  rather 
than  through  the  mails.  When  the  rates  on  the  lines  between  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, owing  to  the  competition  of  the  Western  Union  and  thfe  Baltimore  and  Ohio 
companies  were  10  cents  per  message,  the  social  business  showed  no  material  increase, 
but  the  speculative  and  trade  messages  increased  in  volume,  though  not  in  receipts. 
The  growth  of  social  and  family  business  keeps  right  along  with  the  increase  of 
population,  and  is  not  to  any  marked  extent  governed  by  the  rates  covering  it.  In 
what  does  that  concern  the  Government? 

There  is  a larger  percentage  of  social  messages  sent  in  western  Europe  than  in  the 
United  States.  There  are  two  causes  for  this  : One,  severe  restriction  upon  telegraph- 
ing imposed  by  the  Governments  and  the  lack  of  community  of  interests  between  the 
several  nations,  so  that  the  general  telegraphing  is  largely  restrained,  and  even  sup- 
jiressed;  and  the  inferiority  of  the  European  press  compared  with  that  in  this  coun- 
try, in  enterprise  to  gather  and  circulate  the  latest  intelligence,  as  well  as  the  re- 
straints officially  placed  upon  the  circulation  of  news;  and,  second,  there  are  some 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  travelers  all  the  time  going  about  Europe,  a very  large  pro- 
portion of  them  Americans,  and  they  are  the  most  persistent  patrons  of  the  telegraph. 
It  does  not  appear  to  be  an  essential  or  reasonable  department  of  the  Government’s 
affairs  to  stimulate  the  people  to  the  social  use  of  the  telegraph,  and,  as  only  one 
million  out  of  the  sixty  millions  of  the  peo[)le  telegraph  at  all,  the  vast  majority  of 
communications  passing  between  families  are  conlined  to  the  mails,  because  they  are 
more  confidential  ; and  counting  cheapness  of  the  distribution  of  the  maiis,  and  the 
rapidity  with  which  letters  pass  from  one  part  of  the  country  to  the  other,  and  are 
in  important  communities  delivered,  it  is  neither  a surprise  nor  rei)roach  that  social 
telegraphing  is  a smaller  percentage  of  the  aggregate  business  than  in  Europe,  where 
the  wires  are  kept  clear  of  high  iiolitics  and  great  affairs,  and  the  travelers  of  all 
nations  swarm. 

If  the  lines  of  enterprise  which  the  Postmaster-General  seems  disposed  to  organ- 
ize and  advance  shall  be  not  merely  surveyed  but  attempted,  we  do  not  see  the 
stopping  place  until  he  places  the  telegraphic  instruments  in  each  post-office  and 
educates  in  telegraphy  an  array  of  additional  ernployds  of  the  Government,  putting 
“we  the  people”  in  for  the  expense  of  maintaining  this  force,  and  providing  a 
bureau  for  the  dissemination  of  all  the  news  for  everybo<ly  ; and  then  it  will  become 
the  business  of  the  Government  to  furnish  through  the  telegraph  acceptable  informa- 
tion to  the  people  ’of  the  United  States  duly  stamped  with  the  official  seal  of  the 
administration.  Every  little  newspaper  must  have  its  official  dispatches,  and  at 
each  post-office  it  will  be  desirable  to  put  up  official  bulletins  instructing  the  popu- 
lace in  current  history  ; and,  as  general  manager  of  this  comprehensive  machine,  the 
Postmaster-General,  or  perliaps  the  President  of  the  United  States,  will  have  the 
most  potential  and  prodigious  occupation  ever  known  ; and  it  will  not  consist  with 
the  sale  by  the  Government  to  the  press  of  department  intelligence. 

There  is  nothing  in  the  history  of  mankind  comparable  with  it.  At  the  beginning 
Mr.  Wanamaker  does  not  seem  to  comprehend  the  difference  between  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Associated  Press.  He  does  not  appear  to  be 
aware  that  the  entire  duty  of  the  telegraph  company  is  discharged  when  it  transmits 
intelligence  furnished  by  others ; that  it  is  the  common  carrier  for  all  stories;  that 
it  has  no  responsibility  in  the  collection,  preparation,  or  publication  of  alleged  news 
on  the  wires  ; that  the  two  organzations — the  telegraph  company  and  Associated 
Press — are  always  distinct,  and  often  antagonistic. 

If  the  Government  does  not  propose  to  go  thoroughly  into  the  telegraphic  business  ; 
to  establish  a new  system  of  wires  and  compete  with  individual  enterprise  and  em- 
brace the  whole  country  to  the  remotest  townships  in  the  scope  of  its  huge  enterprise, 
and  to  make  it  the  primary  duty  of  the  postal  department  to  issue  information  by 
official  proclamation,  or  taking  np  the  work  of  furnishing  the  people  their  daily  food 
in  the  daily  history  which  is  journalism — it  would  seem  to  be  the  better  way  to  let 
the  reasonably  good  service  that  we  have  alone.  It  is  probably  right  the  Postmaster 
General  should  have  the  revision  of  the  rates  at  which  the  Government  is  served  by 
the  telegraph  company,  and  certainly  it  should  have  as  low  a rate,  all  things  consid 
ered,  as  any  customer — a rate  that  can  be  had  for  the  showing — but  the  official  busi- 
ness is  not  so  extensive  as  to  demand  revolutionary  proceedings,  and  the  tentative 
proposal  that  the  cities  that  are  already  thoroughly  accommodated  with  telegraphic 


104 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


facilities  shall  have  additional  offices  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  postal 
department,  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  judgment  of  citizens  at  once  well  in- 
structed and  imj)artial,  because  it  is  a manifest  supertlaity. 

Much  is  said  of  the  cheapness  of  telegraphing  in  other  lands,  and  little  account  is 
taken  in  the  estimates  paraded  by  those  who  fancy  themselves  on  the  highways  of 
reform,  to  the  fact  that  the  United  States  is  geographically  far  more  extensive  than 
any  other  civilized  nation,  with  the  exception,  possibly,  of  Russia,  where  telegraphing 
is  but  an  instrument  of  imperial  suppression,  or  of  Australia  and  Canada,  which  are 
not  counted  or  quoted  by  the  reformers.  In  Europe  the  address  and  the  signature 
areall  counted,  and  there  is  practically  no  responsibility  by  the  Governments  for  mis- 
takes in  messages  or  for  failures  to  deliver,  and  in  England  there  is  four  times  the 
service  to  the  mile  of  poles  or  wires  that  is  carried  in  this  country.  We  contend  that 
the  telegraphic  service  in  this  country  is  at  a low  rate,  and  excellent  in  itself,  and 
better  than  the  Government  would  do. 

It  has  been  intimated  by  the  Postmaster  General  in  one  of  his  many  conversational 
communications  upon  the  fascinating  theme  of  the  telegraph,  that  it  might  be  well 
to  inquire  into  the  value  of  the  news  that  the  several  departments  of  the  Government 
furnish  to  the  press,  and  we  believe  he  has  gone  so  far  as  to  observe  that  as  news  is 
recognized  by  the  newspapers  as  of  value,  the  journals  ought  to  pay  for  the  general 
intelligence  communicated  through  the  newspapers  to  the  people.  This  shows  how 
far  the  official  mind  may  go  in  grappling  with  the  large  and  difficult  questions  that 
arise  out  of  the  consideration  of  the  relations  of  the  Government  to  the  telegraph 
where  speculative  tendencies  are  indulged. 

We  fancy  it  would  appear  upon  discriminating  examination  of  the  subject  that  it 
is  an  advantage  to  the  Government  to  be  able  to  use  the  press  in  its  independence 
freely  for  the  transmission  of  tho  intelligence  of  the  several  departments.  We  do  ■ 
not  desire  to  contemplate  the  idea  of  the  Government  furnishing  to  the  people  the 
news  that  they  are  to  believe,  and  establish,  according  to  the  theory  of  the  Imperial-  ■ 
ists,  official  obstacles  to  the  circulation  of  the  matter  those  who  are  taking  care  of ; 
the  people  denominate  false  news,  and  which  is  often  most  true.  These  things  had  ; 
better  be  left  to  the  free  press  and  a telegraphic  system  conducted  by  individual  en-  ‘ 
terprise  in  the  old-fashioned  way,  and  under  that  system  there  will  be  the  better 
chance  that  the  dying  falsehoods  may  be  speedily  overtaken  by  the  conquering  truth.  ' 
We  can  hardly  contemplate  the  sale  of  the  President’s  message  or  the  Postmaster-  ' 
General’s  report  as  news  matter,  and  turning  over  the  proceeds  to  the  Treasury  of 
the  United  States,  thus  swelling  the  surplus  revenue. 

[Omaha  World-Herald,  February  20.] 

The  Postmaster-General  has  been  before  the  House  committee  and  has  explained  to  > 
it  his  views  in  relation  to  the  establishment  of  a national  postal-telegraph  system,  j 
His  plan  is,  generally,  to  contract  with  the  Western  Union  for  the  use  of  its  wires,  j 
and  to  extend  them  to  post-offices  and  have  delivery  made  by  carriers  in  the  same  | 
manner  in  which  letters  are  now  handled.  Mr.  Wanamaker  volunteered  the  informa- ' 
tion  that  his  relations  with  the  telegraph  company  were  very  pleasant,  and  that  he  * 
had  never  had  any  personal  difficulty  with  any  of  its  officers.  This  knowledge  will  i 
afford  particular  satisfaction  to  the  people  at  large,  who  would  be  deeply  grieved  if  i 
high  public  functionaries  were  known  to  fall  out  and  chide  and  ffght. 

The  Postmaster-General  thinks  that  he  should  havethe  power  of  fixing  rates  for  serv- 
ice on  the  new  system  of  telegraph,  and  the  desire  that  he  has  always  shown  in  the 
conduct  of  his  private  business  to  give  the  public  great  bargains,  should  perhaps  serve 
as  a guaranty  that  those  rates  would  be  fixed  as  cheaply  as  possible.  Perhaps  if  a 
corner  of  some  kind  could  be  got  on  somebody,  the  work  might  be  done  at  less  than 
cost. 

It  is  painful  to  be  obliged  to  differ  with  the  Postmaster-General  upon  any  point, 
but  yet  truthfulness  com])els  the  ex])ression  of  thie  opinion  that  the  recommendation 
of  that  gentleman  that  “ some  i)enalty  be  provided  to  prevent  the  use  of  the  wires  for 
political  purposes  by  oflicers  and  employes  of  the  Government,”  amounts  to  what  may 
be  termed  an  excess  of  public  virtue.  Why  should  not  officers  of  the  Government 
use  the  wires  for  any  puri)o.se  they  please,  provided  they  pay  for  the  messages  ? Au 
officer  of  the  Government  has  as  much  right  to  meddle  in  politics  as  any  other  man, 
if  he  does  so  at  his  own  expense,  and  does  not  become  an  “ offensive  partisan.”  The 
mails  are  used  for  political  purposes  by  all  alike,  upon  payment  bj' stamps,  and  there 
is  no  reason  for  any  different  rule  in  the  telegraph. 

One  thing,  however,  should  be  carefully  guarded  against,  and  the  retiring  nature 
of  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  doubtless  prevented  him  from  mentioning  it.  The  Postmas- 
ter-General should  be  positively  })rohibited  from  furnishing  to  Senator  Quay  copies 
of  the  messages  [)assing  over  the  wires  between  Democrats,  such  being  of  a political 
character,  or  sent  ui)on  the  approach  of  election  time.  Upon  the  whole,  perhax>s  it  is 
better  to  let  the  Postmaster-General  run  the  whole  business,  he  is  used  to  “ bossing  ” 
things,  and  could  perhaps  manage  the  entire  matter  entirely  to  his  own  satisfaction. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


105 


[Steubenville  Gazette,  February  21.] 

Postmaster-General  Wauamakers  fool  notion  of  wanting  the  Government  to  go  into 
the  telegraph  business  in  connection  with  the  post-office  is  on  a par  with  the  many 
other  Republican-Federal  schemes  of  Government  control  under  the  plea  that  the 
people  will  get  cheaper  service  than  at  present.  The  people  who  use  the  telegraph 
may  get  a cheaper  service  directly,  but  in  the  end  when  the  big  deficits  are  made 
up,  they  will  find  that  taxes  will  have  to  be  paid  that  will  more  than  equal  the  pres- 
ent cost  of  telegraphing.  Mr.  Wauamaker  ought  to  know  that  the  Government  does 
nothing  cheap.  It  costs  the  Government  a great  deal  more  to  run  its  big  printing 
office  in  Washington  than  it  would  cost  it  to  let  the  work  to  a private  corporation, 
and  the  postal  telegra})h  would  be  likewise.  There  would  be  an  army  of  telegraphers 
at  big  salaries  and  of  course  they  would  all  be  party  heeler.s,  and  the  telegraiffi  would 
be  run  as  a political  machine  just  as  all  other  Federal  offices,  extravagantly  and 
costly  to  the  people.  Even  if  the  Government  does  jjay  too  much  tor  telegraphing 
now,  it  would  i^ay  more  under  the  Wanamaker  hobby  by  25  per  cent,  and  the  service 
would  not  be  near  so  good.  In  addition  to  the  cost.  Government  has  no  business  en- 
tering into  competition  with  private  capital  in  business  enterprises,  and  it  has  no 
right  to  engage  in  enterprises  that  individuals  will  and  do  conduct.  All  such  schemes 
as  the  one  proposed  by  Wanamaker  are  in  opposition  to  .Jeffersonian ism,  and  in  vio- 
lation of  the  democratic  principles  upon  which  this  Government  was  founded.  The 
Government  has  no  more  right  to  go  into  the  telegraph  business  than  it  has  to  start  a 
big  store  in  opposition  to  the  business  of  John  Wanamaker. 

[Michigan  City  (lud.)  Despatch,  February  24.] 

Wanamaker  has  a postal- telegraph  scheme.  We  have  not  given  it  much  consider- 
ation. This  small-fry  demagogue  is  so  fertile  in  plans  that  he  is  not  worthy  of  much 
attention  except  to  see  and  understand  his  folly.  He  proposes  that  the  United  States 
Government  shall  have  such  a service.  It  is  looked  upon  merely  as  another  “ attract- 
ive novelty”  of  the  season  by  Philadelphia’s  big  advertising  merchant.  The  Boston 
Post  says  of  it : 

“ It  would  be  difficult  to  devise  a more  complex  attachment  to  the  Department  of 
which  he  is  the  head,  or  one  better  calculated  to  lead  to  entanglements  of  a disagree- 
able sort.  A person  of  broader  views  than  Mr.  Wanamaker  would  at  once  recognize 
the  incompatibility  of  the  several  features  of  a scheme  which  mixes  the  functions  of 
the  Government  and  private  corporations  in  such  an  inextricable  manner.” 

Wanamaker’s  thirst  for  fame  has  led  him  to  do  some  very  silly  things,  and  he  has 
not  managed  his  department  anything  like  as  well  as  he  can  superintend  a five-cent 
counter.  His  position  cost  him  many  thousand  dollars  to  start  with.  The  money 
was  distributed  in  this  State,  not  to  buy  votes  of  course,  but  to  gain  the  good  will  of 
the  people.  It  would  be  a blow  at  hypocrisy  to  accuse  the  Republican  party  of  brib- 
ing voters.  Wanamaker  shows  business  shrewdness,  but  he  has  very  little  idea  of 
the  qualifications  of  a great  statesman. 

[Troy  Press,  March  1.] 

Postmaster-General  John  Wanamaker  is  in  favor  of  a postal-telegraph  system,  and  ■ 
has  made  an  elaborate  plea  for  its  introduction  before  a Congressional  committee. 
His  plan  is  practically  the  consolidation  of  post-office  and  telegraphic  facilities,  and 
is  wanting  in  the  elements  of  sound  statesmanship. 

Such  a scheme  would  enormously  enhance  the  patronage  of  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  de- 
partment. It  would  raise  into  being  a new  army  of  Federal  office-holders  and  de- 
pendents, and  destroy  a great  and  successful  and  satisfactory  private  enterprise.  The 
telegraph  corapanres  could  not  compete  with  the  Government,  and  very  soon  Uncle 
Sam  would  have  a monopoly  of  the  vast  telegraph  service  of  the  country.  Then  par- 
tisanship could  dominate  the  telegraphic  as  well  as  the  postal-service,  and  the  partj' 
in  power  would  have  a great  additional  horde  of  satellites  from  which  to  extort  sup- 
port at  the  polls  and  levy  political  assessments. 

It  is  plainly  to  the  interest  of  the  peoi)le  that  the  telegraph  system  of  the  United 
States  be  kept  out  of  politics. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  express  business.  Very  low  rates  for  packages  through  the 
mails  give  a great  store,  like  that  conducted  by  the  Postmaster-General,  a chance  to 
send  goods  for  a nominal  figure  all  over  the  United  States  to  the  detriment  of  local 
merchants  everywhere.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  houses  are  already  flooding 
the  mails  with  circulars,  and  he  is  making  rulings  and  managing  the  Department  in 
a manner  that  will  redound  to  the  success  of  his  private  business.  Mr.  Wanamaker 
unfortunately  seems  utterly  unable  to  sink  tlie  tradesman  in  the  statesman,  and  there- 
fore when  he  becomes  the  special  advocate  of  new  measures,  such  as  postal  telegraphy, 
his  statements  must  be  regarded  with  extreme  caution.  With  cheap  postal  telegraphy 


106 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


aad  cheaper  postage  for  mercliandise  brought  about  through  his  official  influence  hi 
office  would  be  worth  $1,000,000  to  him  as  a business  investment. 

The  American  people  will  do  well  to  keep  the  telegraph  system  in  private  hands 
and  not  enlarge  the  opportunities  of  official  corruption. 

[Minneapolis  Journal,  March  1.] 

Dr.  Noryin  Green  ofterssome  very  strong  arguments  from  the  purely  financial  stand 
point  against  Postmaster-General  WanamakePs  modified  postal  teleo-raph  system 
Of  course  the  system  wouldn’t  pay  the  Government,  but  the  Government  isn’t  run 
mug  Departments  for  profit  as  a business  speculation.  The  Post-Office  Departmen 
rarely  shows  a surplus,  and  if  it  didn’t  it  would  not  make  any  difference  if  the  serv 
ice  was  well  performed.  The  Government  must  run  the  service  to  give  the  laro-es 
amount  of  convenience  to  the  public  whether  it  pays  a profit  or  not.  If  the  limite) 
postal  telegraph  system  is  really  needed,  the  Government  ought  to  undertake  it 
Ihe  proposition  to  establish  it  seems,  however,  to  be  in  advance  of  the  demand  of  tli 
public  thus  far. 


[Indianapolis  Journal,  March  2.] 

It  is  well  to  discuss  the  project  of  having  the  Government  control  the  telegraphs- 
.0  bring  out  all  the  arguments  for  and  against  the  proposition.  There  are  those  wh< 
believe  that  the  thing,  or  creature,  they  call  Government  should  own  and  run  all  th. 
railroads  and  all  the  coal  mines,  and  there  are  others  who  would  have  this  paterua 
creation  run  everything  and  divide  the  net  results  among  the  people.  But  to  sucl 
persons  the  arguments  which  appeal  to  the  prudent  sagacity  of  conservative  am 
level-headed  people  can  not  be  addressed.  Those  who  notice  the  telegraph-wire: 
stretched  from  pole  to  pole  throughout  the  country  may  jump  at  the  conclusion  tha' 
It  would  be  an  excellent  thing  for  the  Government  to  own  them  and  manao-e  them  ii 
tne  interest  of  the  people.  The  lines  seem  not  to  be  expensive,  and  the  current  pric< 
of  transmission  of  messages  very  high,  so  that,  between  the  expenses  and  the  receipts' 
there  should  be  a good  margin,  even  when  the  rates  are  reduced,  to  go  into  the  pub 
iic  Treasury.  That  is  what  some  of  us  might  conclude,  but  actual  experience  of  Gov- 
erunieut  control  of  telegraphs  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  in  the  smal* 
and  densely  populated  area  of  Great  Britain,  shows  that  with  a rate  about  15  per  cent- 
less  for  short  distances  the  Government  telegraph  does  not  pay  its  running  expenses 
and  that,  too,  where  telegraphic  labor  is  only  half  as  expensive  as  in  the  United 
fetates. 

Experience  shows  that  no  government  can  perform  any  service  as  cheaply,  and 
rarely  as  efficiently,  as  can  individuals  or  private  corporations.  Consequently  thd 
Government  contracts  with  outside  parties  for  the  building  of  its  ships,  the"  run/ 
ning  of  mail  routes,  etc.  If  governments  could  let  out  their  wars  in  contracts  they 
would  probably  be  ended  more  satisfactorily.  It  is  proper  that  the  postal  service* 
which  is  for  the  whole  people  and  which  is  a necessity  of  civilization,  should  be  undei 
tae  control  of  the  Government,  but  still  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that  privatd 
entei'prise  and  energy  could  atford  as  complete  a service  and  at  the  same  time  nav 
Its  way.  ^ •’i 

But  the  mail  service  is  for  the  people,  while  the  telegraph  service,  from  its  cost, 
must  be  confined  to  a class  of  people  whose  business  requires  speed  and  who  are  near 
teffigrapb  offices.  Probably  three-fourths  of  the  voting  population  of  the  countrv 
V ill  not  use  the  telegraph  three  times  in  a life-time.  Not  being  a generally-used 
means  of  communication,  it  should  not  be  made  a Government  service  at  a cost  iuexcess 
of  its  earnings.  Indeed,  if  the  Government  is  to  manage  those  enterprises  which  are  of 
greatest  service  to  the  masses  it  should  take  charge  of  the  railroads  rather  than  the 
telegraph.  I or  the  present  it  seems  needless  to  give  much  heed  to  the  proposition, 
since  the  Government  appears  to  have  all  that  it  can  attend  to  in  the  mail  service. 

hen  the  head  of  the  I’ostal  Department  can  say  that  the  mail  system  is  as  nearly 
])eifect  as  human  experience  and  skill  can  make  it,  it  will  be  time  to  take  into  con- 
siueration  outside  enterprises  like  telegraph  management. 

[Salt  Lake  Herald,  March  2.1 

Ml  . M anamaker  has  got  it  into  his  head  tliat  he  would  like  to  distinguish  him- 
se.r  by  inaugurating  a postal  telegraph  service.  There  is  a central  aim  or  object 
jU  the  iiiiiid  ot  every  head  ol  an  Executive  Department  of  the  Government.  Eveiy 
C.ibinet  ofiicer  wants  to  do  something  that  Avill  characterize  his  administration.  The 
postal  telegraph  is  l\Ir.  M anamaker’s  hobbv,  and  he  is  riding  it  furiouslv.  Let  uai 
hope  that  he  will  soon  ride  it  to  death. 

J here  are  vsome  things  which  the  Government  can  legitimately  undertake,  but  a 
postal  telegrajih  is  not  among  them.  It  is  possible  that  in  time  there  will  be  need  for 

! 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


107 


, but  that  time  is  uot  now,  and  to  establish  the  proposed  system  would  be  wrong  in 
rinciple  and  debidedly  bad  in  practice.  Tliere  is  very  little  to  commend  it,  and  very 
uch  to  condemn  it. 

In  the  first  place,  it  would  be  wrong  for  the  Government  to  go  into  the  telegraphic 
isiness  as  a competitor  with  private  individuals  or  a company;  nobody  will  dis- 
ate  this  proposition.  If  the  Government  thinks  it  legitimate  to  engage  in  the  busi- 
3SS  it  should  take  it  all,  buying  out  the  plants  and  purchasing  the  “ earning  ability,” 
hatever  that  may  be,  of  all  the  telegraph  companies.  Are  the  people  of  the  United 
;ates,  the  tax-payers,  who  form  the  Government,  prepared  to  invest  millions  in  a tele- 
r'ai)h  plant,  and  then  contribute  other  millions  annually  for  the  privilege  of  carrying 
1 the  business.  We  think  not.  Of  course,  if  the  Government  goes  into  telegraph- 
g,  it  will  be  with  thejview  of  reducing  the  cost  of  the  service  to  the  people,  and  the 
duction  will  mean  a drawing  upon  the  Treasury  to  make  good  the  difference  be- 
veen  the  cost  and  the  receipts.  It  will  not  be  claimed  that  the  Government  can  do 
le  work  as  cheaply  as  it  can  be  done  by  private  parties.  Government  work  always 
•sts  more  than  the  same  work  would  cost  individuals. 

But  there  are  two  objections  to  the  Government  telegraph,  either  of  which  should 
^ sufficient  to  give  the  death-blow  to  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  scheme.  One  is  this  : Of 
e 60,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  only  3,000,000  patronize  the  telegraph  or 
ive  any  use  for  it ; only  these  3,000,000  ever  send  a message  or  receive  one ; the 
,000,000  being  absolutelypudifferent.  The  3,000,000  are  of  the  well-to-do  class,  finan- 
ally.  They  comprise  the  capitalists  and  the  business  men,  tlie  57,000,000  being  the 
rmers,  the  mechanics,  and  laborers.  Now,  are  the  57,000,000  who  have  no  use  for 
e telegraph  willing  to  tax  themselves  in  order  that  the  3,000,000  may  have  cheaper 
iegraph  service  ? Would  it  be  right  to  tax  the  many  who  do  not  employ  the  tele- 
aph  at  all  for  the  benefit  of  the  few  who  make  money  for  themselves  by  using  the 
Iegraph  ? It  seems  to  us  that  the  country  has  had  enough  of  the  schemes  and  sys- 
ms  which  take  money  from  the  poor  and  give  it  to  the  rich,  as  the  Postmaster-Geu- 
al  would  do. 

Hut  tlie  greater  evil  in  this  plan  would  come  from  the  great  increase  of  i)olitical 
>wer  which  the  Government  control  of  the  telegraph  would  give  into  the  hands  of 
e administration  party.  Every  man  in  the  telegraph  service,  from  the  superintend- 
,t  down  to  the  fellow  who  sweeps  out  the  country  office,  would  be  an  active  parti- 
u,  attached  to  the  administration,  and  working  for  the  adA^ancement  of  that  polifi- 
1 organization.  The  control  of  the  Post-Office  De])artmeut  gives  the  party  in  power^ 
i advantage  Avliich  is  felt  in  every  cam])aign,  whether  national  or  local,  and  the 
my  of  telegraph  empioyds  would  make  the  “ ins”  almost  invincible. 

It  is  probably  true  that  telegraph  rates  are  too  high  ; they  must  be  too  high  when 
.ey  are  made  to  pay  dividends  on  so  much  “ Avatered  ” or  fictitious  stock  ; but  the 
ay  to  reduce  tolls  is  by  legitimate  competition  or  restrictive  legislation,  and  not  by 
e GoA’ernment  engaging  in  a business  which  Avould  be  no  more  legitimate  than 
juld  be  a GoA'ernment  hat  factory. 

[Salt  Lake  Tribune,  March  2.] 

We  think  Norvin  Green  is  right  in  his  protest  against  the  proposed  course  of  the 
)stmaster-General.  When  Postmaster  Vilas  insisted  that  certain  steam-ships,  owned 
' private  citizens  and  under  uot  the  slightest  obligations  to  the  Government,  should 
rry  the  mails  of  the  United  States  at  such  rates  as  the  company  had  fixed  for  ordi- 
ry  freights,  Ave  denounced  the  assumption  of  the  Postmaster-General  as  a mere  ex- 
cise of  unjust  arbitrary  power.  We  think  this  Avork  of  Postmaster-General  Wana- 
iker  is  a suit  off  the  same  pattern;  that  if  the  Government  is  dissatisfied  Avith  the 
tes  charged  by  the  telegraph  company,  the  remedy  should  be  to  build  indepetjdent 
)\"ernment  lines.  Tliis  ought  to  have  been  inaugurated  years  ago.  As  it  is,  the  Post- 
aster-General does  uot  know  the  cost  of  maintaining  and  operating  a telegraph  sys- 
tu.  A Government  line  from  Washington  to  Now  York  and  another  to  New  Orleans, 
mid  give  the  Government  full  knowledge  of  the  expense  of  the  system  in  a year  or 
[o,  and  without  knowledge  he  must  be  working  in  the  dark  uoav.  The  first  tele- 
aph  line  in  the  Avorld  Avas  made  possible  by  the  act  of  a Postmaster-General.  In 
e interest  of  the  Post-Office  Department  he  had  a line  stretched  between  Washing- 
a and  Baltimore.  That  Avas  enough  to  inaugurate  the  stretching  of  lines  the  world 
ouud.  The  start  was  on  the  right  track  and  should  have  been  followed  by  a raini- 
ation  of  lines  our  country  OA^er,  and  they  should  Inwe  been  carried  on  by  the  Post- 
fice  Department. 

In  priAuxte  hands  probably  more  im])rovemeuts  have  been  added  than  AA  Ould  haA^e 
eu  by  the  Government,  but  it  has  cost  the  people  a great  deal  more  than  it  Avould 
we  cost  had  the  Government  assumed  and  maintained  control.  The  inotiA'e  of  the 
istmaster-Geueral  is  a good  one.  Ho  thinks  the  people  are  paying  too  much,  that 
tes  should  be  reduced,  but  we  can  not  understand  by  Avhat  authority  he  insists  that 
has  a right  to  fix  the  rates  for  GoA  crnmcnt  messages  and  to  compel  the  company 
carry  messages  at  those  rates.  " 


108 


POSTAL  TP^LEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


I San  Antonio  Express,  March  2.] 

Dr.  Norviii  Green  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  business  of  telegraphy  and  ii 
able  to  show,  possibly  more  clearly  than  another,  that  it  will  not  pay  the  Govern 
ment  to  buy  the  wires.  So  far,  however,  as  the  general  public  is  concerned,  the  Ex 
press  believes  his  argument  to  have  been  unnecessary.  The  pepple  understand  tha 
telegraphic  service  is  now  very  nearly  as  low  as  it  is  possible  to  bring  it,  and  pay  j 
dividend  on  the  capital  invested.  It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  Western  Union  com 
pany,  of  which  Dr.  Green  is  president,  to  steadily  lower  its  rates  as  fast  as  busiuesi 
justified  it.  In  Texas,  for  example,  they  are  100  per  cent,  less  than  ten  years  ago 
The  Government  can  not  give  us  cheaper  service,  and  its  ownership  would  create  i 
very  undesirable  class  of  office-holders.  Of  these  we  have  too  many  now. 

[Detroit  'N’ews,  March  2.J 

President  Norvin  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Conqiany,  in  his  argu 
ment  before  the  House  Post-Office  Committee  last  Friday,  in  opposition  to  John  Wan 
amaker‘s''postal-telegraiih  scheme,  did  the  public  a valuable  service.  This  is  rathe: 
much  to  expect  from  a corporation  or  any  representative  thereof,  but  it  was  done  al 
the  same.  In  dealing  with  the  question  of  telegraphic  communication.  Dr.  Green  hai 
a decided  advantage  over  the  superintendent  of  the  Bethany  Sunday  school.  H< 
knows  what  he’s  talking  about  from  experience.  Whether  the  change  would  hurt  o] 
benefit  his  company  is  hardly  a ([uestion  at  issue  in  this  controversy.  The  principh 
of  the  thing  is  most  largely  at  stake,  and  the  falsity  of  the  principle  can  be  ampl;j 
backed  up  by  the  possibilities  of  its  execution.  The  Government  has  no  businesi 
with  the  management  of  a telegraph  system,  any  more  than  it  has  with  the  manage- 
ment of  a shoe  factory.  It  would  have  rather  more  show  of  reason  in  dealing  witl 
the  latter  than  with  the  former,  on  the  score  of  more  general  public  adaptability: 
There  are  more  people  who  wear  shoes  than  there  are  who  use  the  telegraph,  yet  it  i^ 
scarcely  credible  that  Mr.  Wanamaker  would  care  to  be  considered  the  father  of  ^ 
scheme  for  a series  of  Government  shoe  factories  and  retail  stores  for  their  sale.  ■ 

Whether  a Government  telegraph  would  pay  or  not  has  no  bearing  on  the  principle 
The  Government  is  not  a profit-making  institution.  It  is  not  managed  on  any  prini 
^ ciple  that  requires  it  to  show  a large  balance  sheet  on  its  books  at  the  end  of  everj 
commercial  period,  but  rather  on  a converse  principle.  Its  expenses  should  be  as  low 
as  they  can  be  judiciously  made,  and  its  receipts  gauged  to  meet  these  expenses  anc 
no  more.  But  even  granting  the  Wanamaker  proposition  that  the  Goverumem 
must  make  as  much  money  as  possible,  to  the  exclusion  of  private  capital,  there  has 
been  no  argument  adduced  that  the  telegraph  business  will  pay  for  itself.  Our  ordij 
nary  commercial  rates  in  this  country,  all  things  considered,  are  as  low  as  the  races 
under  the  English  postal  system.  Our  systems  have  to  be  larger  because  our  counj 
try  is  larger.  Proportionately  to  the  size  of  the  respective  countries  w’e  do  not  do 
tithe  of  the  business  done  in  England.  Our  regulations  are  more  lax.  Ten  words  id 
England  mean  ten  words,  address  and  signature  counted  in.  Ten  words  here  mea£ 
ten  wmrds  of  message,  address  and  signature  uncounted.  So  that  our  English  cous- 
ins haven’t  such  a decided  advantage  over  us  in  the  way  of  rates  that  the  advocates 
of  the  system  like  to  make  us  believe. 

Dr.  Green  brought  these  facts  out  more  clearly  than  any  other  man  in  the  country 
could  do.  His  interest  and  his  experience  make  him  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  expo-i 
sitiou.  Once  in  a while  some  good  can  come  out  of  Nineveh. 

[Austin  (Tex.)  Statesman,  March  2,] 

Dr.  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union,  is  making  a magnificent  and  able  figlii 
against  Wanamaker  and  a Government  telegraph. 

[Cincinnati  Tinies-Star,  March  3.  J j 

The  old  ({uestion  of  a postal-telegraph  system  has  again  been  revived.  Its  mostj 
enthusiastic  advocates  are  found  among  men  who  rarely  have  occasion  to  use  the  teh; 
egraph  and  upon  ^Yhom  w’ould  tall  its  heaviest  burden  if  once  the  system  went  iuto| 
vogue.  The  old  shop.- worn  argument  in  its  favor  is  the  one  England’s  system  has  fur- 
nished. Great  Britain  and  Ireland  only  comprise  a few'  more  than  1*21,000  square  mileSf 
They  lack  fully  47,000  square  miles  of  being  as  large  as  the  State  of  California  alone^ 
Their  population  of  more  than  :U),000,000  people  is  bunched.  It  is  not  scattered  oveE 
an  area  of  3,547,000  square  miles  as  is  the  ])opulation  of  this  great  country.  The  cost 
of  maintaining  ai>ostal  telegraph  system  there  is  no  more  to  be  compared  wdth  one  in 
this  country  than  would  the  cost  of  maintaining  a large  family,  all  under  one  roofj 
and  the  same  family  if  each  individual  member  had  a separate  house  and  carried  on 
a separate  establishment,  each  one  located  a thonsand  miles  apart.  Il 

C 

j 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


109 


Did  it  over  occur  to  the  riuisses  that  they  would  not  want  to  telegraph,  even  if  they 
onld  do  it  at  the  coyt  of  writing  a letter  ? The  people  most  benefited  by  this  Gov- 
rninent  innovation  would  be  the  people  who  now  use  the  telegraph.  The  tremen- 
dous reduction  in  rates  contemplated  would  make  a tremendous  deficiency  inevita- 
le,  and  the  burden  of  it  would  fall  upon  the  tax-payers.  The  great  majority  of 
hese  tax-payers  are  the  people  who  seldom,  if  ever,  have  occasion  to  telegraph.  A 
lostal  telegraph  system  would  lighten  the  telegraph  burden  of  the  business  men.  It 
eould  particularly  l)enefit  the  newspapers  compelled  to  annually  pay  telegraphic 
oils  that  mount  lip  into  the  thousands,  but  business  men  and  newspapers  are  able  to 
'car  the  burden.  Upon  the  masses,  heaven  knows,  taxes  are  now  heavy  enough. 
Vhy  should  the  masses  of  the  country  clamor  for  a reduction  in  the  cost  of  diamonds  f 
'hey  don’t  employ  them  now  to  keep  out  hunger  and  cold  and  they  wouldn’t  if  the 
ost  were  reduced.  What  would  they  sa^  if  the  price  were  reduced  and  the  differ- 
nce  between  present  and  future  prices  were  assessed  as  taxes  upon  the  people  ? 

Fully  advised  as  to  the  consequence  of  the  Government  extending  its  ownership 
ver  the  telegraph  lines  of  the  country,  they  would  be  as  clamorous  against  the 
cheme  as  they  are  now  clamorous  for  it.  A postal  telegraph  system  over  the  im- 
(leuse  area  of  this  country  could  only  have  one  meaning,  and  that  a decided  benefit 
b the  few  at  a tremendous  cost  to  the  many. 

[Spokane  Falls  Keview,  March  .5.J  ^ 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  supports  his  proposition  fora  postal  telegraph  with 
onsiderable  ability  and  show  of  reason.  His  bill  contemplates  a connection  between 
1,11  letter-carrier  offices.  The  letter-carriers  would  collect  the  messages,  and  the 
mploybs  of  the  Post-Office  Department  would  do  the  telegraphing  over  the  leased 
ines.  In  the  oxiinion  of  the  Review,  this  proposition  is  the  weak  spot  in  the  bill, 
dr.  Wanamaker  says  the  x>resent  employes  could  go  to  schools  of  telegraphy  and  study 
he  art.  Telegraphy  has  been  reduced  to  a skilled  profession  that  can  not  be  learned 
n a fe  w weeks  or  mouths.  Of  course  a quick  scholar  can  pick  up  the  Morse  alphabet, 
)ut  proficiency  comes  only  with  long  exx)erience.  Take  the  Western  Union  company 
or  instance.  It  emi^loys  skilled  operators,  and  yet  its  messages  are  full  of  errors, 
business  men  who  are  frequent  i)atrons  of  the  telegraph  can  readily  understand  the 
)luuders  that  would  be  liable  under  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  system  of  depending  upon 
inskilled  employes  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  So  much  depends,  in  time  of  cli- 
natic  disturbance,  upon  the  skill  and  experience  of  the  operator  that  a “ raw”  man 
vould  be  as  helpless  as  a child. 

The  control  of  duplex  and  quadruplex  wires  has  become  a science,  a science  so  del- 
cate  and  i^erplexing  that  it  wmuld  be  far  safer  to  place  a college  fledgling  in  the 
■e8i)onsible  position  held  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  than  to  turn  loose  a young  man  fresh 
Tom  a school  of  telegraphy  in  a large  operating  room  and  depend  upon  him  to  take 
iontrol  of  the  switchboard.  And  yet  Mr.  Wanamaker  proposes  to  do  exactly  this. 

If  this  experiment  should  prove  a success,  the  system  would  be  gradually  extended. 
Che  charges  for  messages  sent  within  the  limits  of  one  state  would  be  10  cents  for 
iiwenty  words  or  less,  counting  address  and  signature ; 25  for  any  distance  under 
‘.,500  miles,  and  50  cents  for  any  greater  distance. 

Mr.  Wauamaker’s  scheme  will  hardly  be  favorably  received  in  Spokane  Falls,  at 
east  not  at  jn’esent.  The  people  at  Washington  have  an  irnxiression  that  the  post- 
)ffices  in  this  State  already  have  more  business  than  they  can  handle  satisfactorily. 
They  would  prefer  an  improvement  in  the  present  service  before  an  extension.  After 
ihat  is  done  it  will  do  to  talk  about  an  extension.  After  that  is  done  it  will  do  to 
;alk  about  a postal  telegraph. 


[ Belltbnte  (Pa.)  News,  March  5.1 

The  time  has  fully  come  when  the  Republican  press  of  the  country  should  demand 
i halt  upon  the  Postmaster-General  in  his  attempt,  officially,  to  commit  the  jiarty  to 

i)olicy  utterly  at  variance  with  its  every  principle,  its  past  purposes,  and  its  pres- 
mt  aims. 

The  party  has  been  built  upon  the  broad  foundations  of  protecting  j)rivate  enter- 
irise,  of  dispensing  equity  and  justice,  and  of  insuring  prosperity  alike  to  the  people 
ind  the  Government ; and  while  it  has  been  in  the  control,  of  statesmen  of  clear 
uulerstanding  and  broad  comprehension  its  success  has  been  fully  attained. 

It  has  been  the  custom,  and  quite  the  practice,  upon  the  accession  of  any  one  fresh 
Tom  the  fields  of  finance,  or  of  a limited  career  in  the  legal  profession,  or  from  hab- 
erdashery as  a xmrsuit,  for  the  x^rofessional  lobbyists  to  seize  upon  him  and  thor- 
lughly  inflate  him  with  their  assurances  of  his  comprehensive  statesmaushij) ; this 
iccomiilished  he  soon  becomes  larger  than  his  party  and  a weak  prey  to  their  schemes. 

It  would  bo  idle  to  attempt  to  conceal  the  apparent  fact  that  Mr.  Wanamaker,  in 
|bhe  new  vocation  of  a Postmaster-General  directing  the  legislation  of  Congress,  lias 


110 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


entirely  lost  his  head  and  forgotten  his  place,  and  painfully  manifests  that  he  i| 

most  ignorant  of  what  he  is  most  assured.”  His  personal  assumptions  might  pass 
with  him,  on  his  retirement  from  office,  into  oblivion,  and  we  might  now  pass  them 
by  were  it  not  that  our  pride  and  faith  of  party  is  greatly  wounded  with  the  exhibb 
tion  he  makes  while  prompted  by  a lobby  of  designing  scamps,  to  schemes  that  have 
neither  the  demand  of  the  people,  the  sanction  of  the  party,  nor  the  commendation 
of  the  President  for  their  justification. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  by  requirements  of  the  constitution,  reports  direct 
to  Congress,  and  is  not  infrequently  asked  by  that  body  for  information  touching 
proposed  legislation  ; other  cabinet  ministers  report  to  the  President  by  law,  and  only 
through  him  by  precedent  and  practice  have  communication  with  Congress. 

^ That  a great  political  party  should  be  held  responsible  for  the  vagaries  of  a Cabinet 
minister  is  quite  deplorable,  but  when  thesf  affect  in  their  purpose  the  material  in- 
terests of  large  classes  of  the  people,  his  attitude  visits  the  party  as  a calamity  by 
insuring  its  defeat  in  great  States,  precariously  Rexniblican. 


[Pittsburgh  Post,  March  5.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green  has  made  some  statements  before  the  House  Committee  on  the 
Post-office  and  Post-Roads  which, if  verified,  should  cause  the  committee  to  think  twice 
before  recommending  the  adoption  of  the  Wanamaker  scheme  of  postal  telegrai)hy.- 
He  says  for  one  thing  that  the  ratio  between  our  own  and  the  British  telegraph  rateg^ 
is  as  25  to  20.  And  yet  the  Postmaster-General  proposes  to  reduce  our  rates  one-half, 
in  face  of  the  fact  that  the  British  system  has  been  operated  at  a loss  of  !|11, 800,300 
in  the  last  eleven  years.  Assuming  the  fact  as  to  the  British  service  and  the  ratio  off 
rates  to  be  as  statefi,  it  raises  a presumption,  though  of  course  it  does  not  fully  prov6,j 
that  our  lines  could  not  be  operated  without  loss  under  a 20  per  cent,  reduction  or 
rates,  while  the  50  per  cent,  reduction  projDosed  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  would  almost 
certainly  result  in  heavy  loss.  There  is  no  good  reason  why  our  Government  should^ 
run  the  telegraph  business,  or  any  other  business,  at  a loss.  The  telegra];)h  service  isj 
not  for  charitable  purposes,  and  only  to  a very  limited  extent  for  social  purposes.  It’ 
is  chiefly  a business  service  and  should  be  conducted  on  a business  basis  like  trauspor-] 
tation,  and  not  at  the  public  expense.  'i 

The  whole  idea  of  a Government  telegraph  belongs  to  the  paterual  notion  that'.! 
those  in  authority  should  provide  everything  for  the  dear  people  from  waffles  to  war.j! 

Making  the  thousands  of  telegraph  operators  and  workmen  in  the  United  States'! 
the  agents  of  Wanamaker’s  political  party,  with  the  right  of  iusxtection  of  all  me8-*| 
sages  going  over  the  lines — as  to  a great  extent  in  the  Tilden  campaign  of  1876 — wouldV 
be  rushing  things  with  a vengeance.  < 

[Houston  (Tex.)  Post,  March  5.]  j 

Dr.  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Vuion  Telegraph  Company,  recently  appeared'> 
by  request  before  the  House  post-office  committee  and  gave  that  body  of  savants  a| 
few  facts  and  figures  regarding  telegraph  service  in  this  country  and  Europe  that  will, 
probably  have  the  effect  of  retiring  the  Wanamaker  postal  telegraith  scheme  for  the 
present.  He  demonstrated  that  there  are  in  America  more  telegraph  than  post 
offices;  that  telegraph  rates  are  lower,  distance  considered,  than  in  England;  that 
it  would  cost  the  Government  at  least  P,000,000  a year  in  excess  of  receipts  to  carry' 
out  the  Wanamaker  idea,  which  sum  the  57,000,000  of  people  who  do  not  use  the  wires 
would  have  to  pay. 


[St.  Louis  Itepnblic,  March  5.] 

The  element  of  common  sense  and  common  justice  is  altogether  lacking  in  any. 
X)ostal  telegrai^h  scheme  under  which  the  force  and  j)Ower  of  the  Government  would 
be  used  to  com])el  private  lines  to  transmit  j)opular  messages  in  competition  with  their 
own  interests.  Such  a policy  would  be  a war  measure — that  is,  an  act  depending  for' 
justification  only  on  the  law  of  the  stronger.  ' 

The  Federal  Government  has  no  constitutional  authority  to  go  into  the  private 
business  of  ox)erating  railroads  or  telegraphs,  but  supposing  that  it  had  no  constitu- 
tion, three  courses  would  be  oiien  to  it: 

It  could  build  lines  of  its  own  and  comi)ete  the  existing  lines  out  of  existence — in- 
directly confiscating  them. 

It  could  buy  them  at  an  agreed  jirice  and  prohibit  competition. 

It  could  confiscate  them  directly. 

The  ]dan  of  allowing  them  to  remain  ostensibly  in  the  hands  of  their  owners  and 
using  them  as  a part  of  government  machinery  against  the  consent  and  to  the  detri- 
ment of  the  owners  is  more  unfair  than  the  outright  confiscation  which  has  bold' 


: POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  Ill 

►rutality  to  comraeiid  it.  The  sneaking  indirection  of  the  method  makes  it  as  con-' 
ernptible  as  it  is  unjust. 

No  sensible  person  doubts  that  if  the  Government  goes  into  interstate  telegraphing 
T railroading  at  all,  it  must  monopolize  the  business  as  it  does  that  of  carrying  the 
uails.  The  people  would  demand  and  enforce  from  Congress  a rate  with  which  pii- 
rate  enterimise  could  not  compete.  So,  if  it  be  assumed  that  the  Government  is  to 
lo  the  work  at  all,  it  is  a contemptible,  swell  as  a futile,  evasion  to  attempt  to  avoid 
he  alternative  that  if  the  Government  does  not  extinguish  existing  property  rights 
>y  direct  purchase,  it  must  do  it  by  direct  or  indirect  confiscation.  ” 

! There  is  really  no  alternative.  The  Government  can  not  as  well  afford  to  pay  for 
ailroads  and  telegraphs  as  it  could  to  pay  for  the  slave  property  confiscated.  Pur- 
ihase  is  out  of  the  question.  If  the  Government  goes  into  the  business  of  a general 
jOinmon  carrier,  it  must  by  direction  or  indirection  confiscate  the  property  of  com- 
fioii  carriers  now  in  the  business. 

i [Financier  (N.  Y. ),  March  8.  ] 

The  president  of  the  WesteruUniou  Telegraph  Company,  Dr.  Norviu  Green,  before 
he  committee  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  expediency  of  Government  telegraphy, 
aid  the  Western  Union  Tlegraph  Company  had  no  desire  to  compete  against  the 
Inited  States  Treasury.  He  added  much  else  to  show  that  the  projected  programme, 
'persisted  in  and  enlarged  upon,  would  prove  a practical  confiscation  of  the  Western 
Fnion’s  business. 

We  are  inclined  to  think  he  is  right;  this  whole  matter  resolves  itself  down  to  a 
nestion  of  honesty;  can  the  people  afford  to  take  possession  of  a private  enterprise, 
onfiscate  its  business,;ruin  its  prospects  and  capital,  and  cause  distress  to  many  em- 
iloyds,  even  if  a cheaper  telegraph  service  should  be  given  them  ? 

I This  is  a very  grave  issue,  and  clearly  shows  that  there  is  more  in  Mr.  Bellamy’s 
bcialism  than  many  of  our  business  men  imagine.  For  might  not  such  a government 
rogramme,  if  carried  out,  be  an  entering- wedge  toward  encouraging  our  Govern- 
ient  to  go  into  quite  a variety  of  industries  to  the  detriment  and  ruin  of  many  other 
leople  engaged  in  such  particulars? 

: There  are  very  few  business  people  who  fully  take  into  consideration  what  social- 
mi  in  practice  means ; they  are  inclined  to  class  that  phase  of  organization  with 
tanks  and  closet  theorists  to  the  exclusion  of  the  weight  it  now — in  this  country — 
Iready  has  among  solid  business  men.  Not  that  these  men  fully  appreciate  what 
hey  are  doing  or  toward  what  their  aims  inflexibly  lead  ; nevertheless,  the  move- 
lent  is  rapidly  gaining  ground,  and  it  becomes  high  time  a halt  is  taken,  that  this 
rave  matter  may  become  more  generally  understood. 

We  need  no  better  proof  of  the  growth  of  this  insidious  mischief  and  disastrous  ele- 
lent  than  the  very  proposition  in  question,  involving  an  inquiry  of  a House  com- 
littee  to  look  into  it  with  a view  to  its  adoption. 

As  this  act  of  Congress  may  be  insufficient,  in  the  minds  of  many,  to  support  the 
ssertion  we  have  made,  we  will  give  another  instance  that  will  remove  all  doubts 
bout  the  matter. 

The  following  is  a summarized  statement  just  received  from  the  German  liberals, 
f Berlin,  which  contains  the  gist  of  the  great  movement  that  has  recently  attracted 
ae  world’s  attention  ; it  is  the  socialistic  platform  condensed  : 

“ Their  chief  aim  will  be  to  substitute  for, the  present  condition  of  things  one  in  which 
le  state  shall  become  the  possessor  of  all  capitals,  land,  houses,  machinery,  and  pro- 
isions.  All  independent  industries  shall  cease  operation,  and  everyone,  without 
xception,  shall  become  employes  of  the  state. 

Such  a, revolution,  in  the  opinion  of  the  socialists,  would  remedy  present  evils 
rising  from  the  unequal  distribution  of  wealth  and  from  the  inability  of  those  en- 
aged  in  small  industries  to  compete  with  the  great  capitalists.” 

Now  apply  this  platform  to  the  question  before  ns,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  pro- 
osed  Government  telegraph  system  is  in  exact  keeping  with  socialistic  precepts, 
pd  it  is  in  exact  harmony  with  the  ideas  contained  in  Mr.  Bellamy’s  books  : there- 
)re  the  question  now  before  us  is,  will  the  people,  if  called  upon,  vote  for  socialistic 
jnfiscation  of  private  business  by  our  Government,  or  will  they  vote  for  the  present 
Dmpetitive  system,  and  require  our  Government  to  let  private  enterprise  alone  ? 
lo  show  how  dangerous  this  issue  has  already  become,  the  merchants  of  this  coun- 
'y  may  well  be  alarmed  when  their  attention  is  called  to  the  fact,  that  if  a vote  was 
iken  to-day  whether  the  Government  should  or  should  not  adopt  Mr.  Wanamaker’s 
Ian,  few  would  hesitate  in  saying  the  vote  would  be  carried  in  the  affirmative. 

The  people  want  all  they  can  get,  and  so  long  as  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  plan  jDromises  a 
aeaper  telegraph  service,  a service  that  claims  postage  rates,  few  would  be  found  to 
ote  against  it. 

Now  we  ask  this  question  : Would  not  such  a proceeding  be  equivalent  to  highway 
)bbery  ? Could  the  Western  Union  or  any  private  line  compete,  as  Dr.  Green  said. 


112 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


against  the  United  States  Treasury?  We  fail  to  see  how  they  conld,  whether  the 
proposed  telegraph  service  was  run  at  a loss  or  a profit. 

And  the  people  in  voting  for  a Government  telegraph  w'onld  not  necessarily  appre- 
ciate the  fact  that  they  were  voting  for  socialistic  principles  ; to  them  the  snbject 
would  be  a matter  of  course,  and  us  reasonable  as  the  present  method  of  conducting 
our  postal  affairs. 

Here  is  a precedent  already  est<ablished  ; our  post-office  is  run  on  socialistic  princi- 
ples by  the  people,  for  the  people  ; and  the  matter  is  so  reasonable,  and  in  the  minds 
of  most  business  people  so  fascinating,  that  by  comparing  their  feelings  upon  the 
question  as  here  presented  they  should  become  agitated  by  the  question,  “Where 
will  it  all  end  ? ” 

Mr.  Bellamy  says  in  his  book  that  his  system  is  the  natural  outgrowth  of  the 
times;  that  his  socialistic  system  grew  out  of  the  common  tendencies  of  the  present 
industries  of  the  day;  that  trusts,  corporate  management,  etc.,  grew  to  such  propor- 
tions that  it,  in  practice,  was  but  a step  from  them  to  a general  appropriation  of  all 
industries  by  the  Government—  that  is, the  people.  Here  he  makes  a tremendous  error, ' 
for  no  such  orderly  growth  as  he  describes  is  a possibility  ; because  corporate  and  all 
private  property  would  have  to  be  confiscated  ; and  such  an  act  would  produce  a big- 
ger war  than  that  of  the  rebellion. 

But  recommending  that  our  Government  should  take  gradual  possession  of  the 
Western  Union’s  business,  regardless  of  the  property  rights  of  that  corporation  vested 
in  it  by  our  Constitution,  is  a large  movement  in  the  socialistic  direction;  it  is  that' 
confiscation  we  point  out  that  if  generally  applied  would  produce  the  greatest  civil  i 
war  in  history  ; therefore  we  say  to  this  Congressional  committee,  “ Look  well  what ' 
you  do,  for  where  would  this  precedent  stop  if  once  established  ? What  industry  in| 
this  country  could  safely  count  its  own  resources  overnight  with  such  Congressional^ 
acts  threatening  them  with  confiscation?  | 

Once  habituate  the  people  to  such  wholesale  robberies,  and  who  knows  where  the; 
matter  would  end  ? ” S 

As  Dr.  Green  said,  private  enter|)rise  can  not  compete  with  the  United  States  Treas-  ’ 
ury.  (' 

[Fresno  (Cal.)  Expositor,  March  8.]  (j 

Under  the  plan  outlined  by  the  Postmaster-General  the  benefits  of  cheap  telegraphy  ;j 
would  be  confined  to  cities  and  towns  that  had  a free  post-office  delivery.  But  once -I 
c.arried  thus  far,  it  would  not  be  long  before  it  would  be  extended  to  every  village  post-!! 
office,  and  a vast  Government  telegraph  system  would  be  only^  a question  of  a little' 
time.  To  the  present  inconvenience  of  a private  telegraph  monopoly  would  succeed’! 
a vast,  costly,  and  burdensome  public  monopoly.  Resist  the  beginnings.  ! 

[Detroit  Free  Pres.s,  March  8.]  | 

The  scheme  of  Mr.  Wanamaker  to  establish  telegraph  lines  in  connection  with  the? 
Post-Office  Department  is,  as  has  been  well  said,  simply  the  entering- wedge  to  govern- 
mental control  and  possession  of  the  whole  telegraph  system.  This  multiplies  Federal  ' 
officials,  and  is  another  long  step  in  the  progress  to  an  absolute  centralized  govern- ; 
ment. 

Wanamaker’s  plan,  without  going  any  further,  makes  an  expert  telegraph  operator 
necessary  in  every  office  that  is  connected  with  the  system  and  will  swell  the  expense 
of  the  Department  far  beyond  its  receipts.  The  deficiency  must  be  paid  by  the  mil- 
lions w’ho  never  will  derive  the  slightest  benefit  from  the  postal  telegraph. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Democratic  organs  and  leaders  expend  their  efforts  in  one 
direction,  that  of  tariff  reform  alone,  while  the  enemies  of  real  democratic  govern- 
ment advance  steadily  on  other  lines  to  permanent  conquest.  Shall  the  country  ever 
have  a party  that  advocates  a full  and  real  democratic  creed,  as  it  now  has  one  in 
power  of  un, adulterated  monarchism  ?—Ypsilauti  Sentinel. 

[Ashband  (AVis.)  Press,  March  10.]  j 

While  there  is  no  doubt  of  his  honest  motives,  the  postal  telegraph  scheme  of  Mr.' 
Wanamaker  will  not  receive  a popular  indorsement.  In  the  first  place,  it  would  Hood; 
the  country  with  half-breed  telegraph  operators,  as  it  provides  th.at  all  post-office 
employes  sli.all  be  required  to  learn  the  trade. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  it  would  cheapen  rates  and  put  it  within  the  power  ofi 
even  the  poorest  people  to  communicate  with  jerked  lightning.  But  can  not  this  same! 
object  be  accomplished  without  a demoralization  of  the  trade  f i\ 

The  telegraph  .and  postal  service  may  be  closely  allied,  but  .t^i©  Press  believesi 
they  should  be  kept  se]>arate  and  distinct.  E.ach  has  specific  functions.  There  must  I 
be  a distinction,  or  the  m.ail  service  will  be  entirely  obliterated.  The  newspaper 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


113 


franchises  are  destroyed,  Every  man  his  own  operator”  would  result  in  a confu- 
'sion  that  would  be  appalling.  The  prompt  and  reliable  telegraph  service  of  the  pres- 
leut  time  would  be  but  a memory.  If  cheaper  rates  are  denied,  the  Government  should 
control  the  telegraph  service  and  establish  a minimum  rate,  but  not  bunch  it  with 
ithe  mass  of  mail  matter.  Each  would  be  deteriorated. 

' [Spriugfield  ^Mass.)  Kepublican,  March  10.] 

It  is  a pity  that  the  busim  ss  capacity  of  Postmaster-General  Wananiaker  can  not 
be  employed  in  developing  the  legitimate  features  of  the  postal  service  instead  of 
tinkeriug  with  such  schemes  as  that  of  the  ])ostal  telegraph.  He  has  made  several 
appearauces  before  the  House  committee  on  Post-Offices  in  behalf  of  this  scheme  and 
endeavored  to  make  them  uuderstaml  what  he  wants.  His  plan  is  worse  than  complete 
Goveinmeut  control,  for  it  estaldishes  a hybrid  system  with  divided  responsibilities 
aud  unfair  competition  of  the  Government  against  private  lines.  Old  Dr.  Green  the 
president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has  been  pouring  some  hot  shot 
into  the  Wananiaker  scheme  uuring  the  past  few  days.  He  has  had  no  difficulty  in 
demonstrating  that  a government  telegraph  would  not  pay  its  way  at  the  rates  pro- 
posed by  the  Postmaster-General,  and  that  ir,  has  net  proved  economical  in  England 
where  the  conditions  aie  infinitely  more  favorable  than  incur  more  thinly  settled 
country.  A number  of  members  of  the  committee  were  disposed  to  favor  the  plan  of 
the  Postrnaster-Geueral,  but  Dr.  Green’s  stuldmrn  facts  and  figures  have  opened  their 
pyes.  It  is  barely  iiossible  that  the  te  legraph  lines  of  the  country  will  be  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  Interstate  Con  merce  Commission, but  it  would  be  difficult  to  enforce 
the  long  and  short  distance)  clause  which  has  been  incorporated  into  the  bill  reported 
to  the  Senate. 

[Cincinnati  (Ohio)  Commercial  Gazette,  March  10  ] 

It  is  not  quite  half  a century  since  the  first  telegraph  line  became  practically  avail- 
able in  the  United  States  or  in  the  world.  It  was  what  was  kuowu  as  the  Morse  sys- 
tem. And  It  is  a remarkalile  fact  that  the  Morse  aljihabet  is  the  one  still  in  use.  It 
has  not  been  improved  u|)ou.  That  was  the  result  of  private  enterprise.  The  Con- 
gress of  the  Unite  t States  contributed  a few  thousand  dollars  to  the  first  experiment 
and  did  that  in  a way  that  can  best  be  expressed  by  the  word  churlish.  * 

In  lr'4(i,  we  think,  the  first  telegraph  message  was  received  in  Cincinnati,  That 
line,  over  the  mountains  from  Pliiladel[diia,  was  coustructed  under  the  manao-ement 
3f  Henry  O’Reilly,  and  the  money  was  obtaTlued  with  the  greatest  difficulty,  “it  w^as 
years,  too,  before  the  business  pai<l,  and  most  of  the  people  who  invested  in  it  lost  all 
ffiey  contributed.  Henry  O’Reilly  is  a poor  man,  if  he  is  alive.  J.  D.  Reid,  the  first 
general  manager,  is  a poor  man,  and  was  recently  appointed,  through  the  influence 
Df  fri  nds,  to  a small  consulate  in  Scotland. 

In  1847  it  was  umlertaken  to  transmit  a President’s  message  from  Washington.  It 
was  done  after  a fash'on,  but  it  required  the  greater  part  of  two  days  “and  two 
aights  to  do  the  work.  We  mention  this'toshow  what  the  system  was  at  that  time, 
'low  a President’s  message  is  transmitted  in  two  hours.  This  marvelous  progress  is 
;he  result  of  private  eurer()rise,  and  out  of  this  has  grown  nearly  every  invention  in 
;he  field  of  electricity.  With  all  this  t he  Government  has  had  nothing  to  do,  except 
;o  issue  patents.  It  did  not  aid  to  the  extent  of  a dollar.  The  progress  has  been 
nade  independent  of  it. 

Does  any  mortal  su{)po8e  that  if  the  Government  of  the  United  States  had  assumed 
(ontrol  of  the  telegraph  system  even  twenty  years  ago  any  considerable  improve- 
neuts  would  have  been  ma<fe  ? No  one.  A government  moves  in  ruts.  The  life  of 
Ml  employe  is  meaMtred  by  the  life  of  the  administration  under  which  he  is  appointed. 
Tot  faithful  service  he  has  no  hope  of  reward.  There  is  no  incentive  to  the  exercise 
>f  inventive  genius.  The  science  of  electricity  would  not  have  been  developed  as  it 
las  been  if  Government  had  been  in  control  of  telegraph  lines. 

The  post-office  system  has  progressed,  but  not  as  it  should  have  done,  and  as  it 
vould  have  done  had  it  beeu  managed  as  express  companies  are  governed.  Even 
low  it  is  in  every  respect  far  behind  express  companies.  Every  newspaper  publisher 
mows  this.  Iii  the  transmission  of  correspondence  and  the  distribution  of  papers 
vheie  quickness  is  necessary  the  express  companies  are  used  in  preference  to  the 
mst-office,  and  that  too  regardh-ss  of  cost.  So  it  would  be  in  the  case  of  a Govern- 
aent  pcistal  service.  Private  enterprise  would  beatthe  Government  unless  the  latter 
hould  destroy  privaie  enter|>rise  by  adopting  losing  rates  and  paying  shortages  out 
f the  National  i'reasury.  Would  that  be  uood  policy? 

The  Goveiumei.t  might  build  a railroad  from  New  York  to  New  Orleans,  make  rates 
o low  as  to  destroy  compel ition,  aud  call  upon  Congress  every  year  for  a deficiency 
all.  Would  that  be  good  policy  ? Would  it  be  tolerated  ? Yet  that  is  precisely  the 
'imciple  upon  which  Mr.  Wauamaker  proposes  to  go  into  the  telegraph  business, 
le  proposes  to  cripple  private  enterprise  at  the  expense  of  the  people  and  at  the  cost 
f the  service.  ■ 


P T 


■8 


114 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


It  is  argued  that  the  telegraph  is  a great  monopoly,  but  this  is  not  true  except  in 
the  case  of  patents.  The  enterprise  started  with  a monopoly,  but  with  the  expiration 
of  the  Morse  patents  the  country  was  free  to  capitalists  that  desired  to  venture  money 
in  the  construction  of  telegraph  lines,  as  it  is  free  to-day,  except  so  far  as  improve- 
ments have  been  made  which  are  covered  by  letters  patent.  These  so  far  as  valua- 
ble are  mainly  owned  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  but  still  there  is 
a large  field  outside  of  these,  and,  in  point  of  fact,  there  is  a formidable  competition — 
powerful  enough  to  prevent  the  establishtheut  of  extortionate  rates  by  any  corpora*- 
tion. 

There  have  been  many  consolidations  of  telegraph  lines,  but  it  is  a fact  that  charges 
are  lower  in  this  country  to-day  than  at  any  former  time.  Every  consolidation  was 
followed  by  a reduction  in  the  tariff,  except  in  cases  where  there  had  been  temporary 
suicidal  cutting.  But  the  general  changes  have  been  in  a downward  rather  than  an 
upward  scale.  If  it  were  otherwise,  if  the  policy  of  the  telegraph  companies  should 
be  to  make  unreasonable  charges.  Government  interference  would  be  justifiable. 
But  thus  far  public  opinion  has  been  sufficient  to  keep  charges  within  reasonable 
bounds.  Furthermore,  the  telegraph  service  of  this  country  was  never  near  so  good 
and  never  so  cheap  as  it  is  now,  and  in  the  hands  of  private  enterprise,  under  the,  influ- 
ence of  an  intelligent  public  opinion,  it  will  never  be  less  efficient  or  dearer  than  it  is 
now. 

With  the  controversy  between  Mr.  Wanamaker  and  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company  as  to  charges  for  public  service  we  are  not  specially  advised,  but  we  feel  as- 
sured from  our  experience  in  the  management  of  the  general  press  business  that  the 
Government  can  hire  its  business  cheaper  and  secure  more  satisfactory  service  than 
if  it  owned  and  undertook  to  manage  its  own  lines. 

The  Associated  Press  is  by  far  the  largest  customer  of  the  telegraph  companies, 
and  its  managers  have  carefully  considered  the  question  of  owning  its  own  lines,  but 
it  foresaw  difficulties  that  would  lie  all  along  its  path.  The  press  knew  more  about 
details  than  Mr.  Wanamaker  seems  to  comprehend.  Therefore  it  preferred  to  be  a 
renter  rather  than  an  owner.  , 

There  is  an  impression  abroad  that  the  Associated  Press  is  a monopoly,  and  that 
it  is  specially  favored  by  the  telegraph  company.  There  is  no  ground  for  this.  In 
the  first  place,  there  are  at  least  three  associated  press  organizations  in  the  country  , 
competing  for  business,  and  our  contract  with  the  telegraph  company  is  that  no  com- 
peting association  shall  be  charged  lower  rates  than  are  exacted  from  us.  If  there 
has  been  a departure  from  the  letter  and -spirit  of  this  agreement  it  has  been  against 
and  not  in  favor  of  the  Associated  Press. 

But  on  general  principles  we  would  no  more  favor  the  Government  control  of  tele- 
graphs than  we  would  that  of  railroads. 

[New  Orleans  Picayune,  March  12.] 

The  whole  policy  of  the  Republican  party  is  towards  the  assumption  by  the  GeneraF 
Government  of  paramount  authority  over  everything  in  the  country.  There  is  not  a 
function  which  by  its  nature  is  not  wholly  confined  to  the  individual  that  this 
party  of  centralization  does  not  desire  to  control ; there  is  not  a social  or  commercial  ; 
(juestion  it  does  not  aspire  to  regulate. 

Among  the  usurpations  it  meditates  is  the  possession  and  control  of  the  telegraph 
lines  in  the  Ignited  States,  and  it  is  proposed  to  be  done  under  the  pretense  that  it  is 
to  be  made  a part  of  the  postal  system  of  the  United  States  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  peo])le.  But  this  pretense  is  wholly  specious  and  deceptive',  and  it  is  only 
necessary  to  call  attention  to  a few  points  of  difference  between  the  letter  postal 
service  and  an  alleged  telegraph  postal  service.  The  mails  are  open  to  all  who  can 
write  or  can  procure  the  writing  of  a letter  and  can  pay  2 cents  of  postage  upon  it. 
There  arc  more  than  sixty  millions  of  people  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a fair  and 
reasonable  assumption  that  the  mails  are  actually  used  by  a very  large  majority  of 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  There  pass  through  the  mails  in  a year  more  than 
one  thousand  million  letters  and  sealed  packages  written  probably  by  not  less  than 
forty  million  of  the  ])eople.  It  is  estimated  that  not  more  than  one  million  of  the 
people  use  the  telegra])h.  It  is  not  then,  like  the  mail  service,  a public  necessity  for 
the  whole  peoi)le,  but  it  is  a necessity  only  for  certain  classes  of  the  people,  as  about  < 
DO  per  cent,  of  the  telegraphing  is  done  by  and  for  the  mercantile  classes  and  the 
newspapers. 

The  telcgra})h  service  is  therefore  best  carried  on  as  a private  enterprise,  and  the 
Government  has  no  more  reason  to  assume  the  conduct  of  it  than  it  has  to  take  the 
management  and  control  of  all  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  and  transportation 
onlerprises  in  the  country.  Even  all  this  is  demanded  by  the  centralizing  socialists, 
but  it  would  be  going  out  of  the  way  to  consider  that  branch  of  the  subject. 

, Without  touching  on  the  abstract  questions  of  the  con.stitutiouality  of  the  claim 
that  the  Government  can  of  right  assume  control  of  the  telegraph  service,  let  us  look 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


115 


at  the  practical  side  of  the  question  of  right.  It  is  very  clearly  argued  by  Mr.  E.  B. 
Vedder,  of  Buffalo,  in  a pamphlet  of  thirty  pages,  which  we  happen  to  have  at  hand. 
He  says  in  effect  that  if  the  Government  should  undertake  to  establish  a Govern- 
ment telegraph  it  could  only  do  so  either  by  purchasing  the  property  of  the  existing 
telegraph  companies  or  by  constructing  special  lines  of  its  own.  Suppose  either 
alternative,  can  the  Government  make  an  exclusive  Government  telegraph  service 
and  abolish  every  other?  “Certainly  not,”  argues  Mr.  Vedder.  He  continues: 

“ The  Government  will  have  no  right  to  use  a single  uuexpired  patent,  nor  any  im- 
provement for  which  a patent  may  be  taken  hereafter,  unless  it  gets  it  Ijy  purchase. 
In  short,  as  to  using  the  inventions  which  have  been  made  and  patented,  and  shall 
hereafter  be  made  and  patented,  the  Government  does  stand  and  will  stand  in  the 
same  predicament  as  that  of  every  private  individual  in  the  country.  It  can  avail 
itself  of  rights  as  to  which  the  patents  have  expired  only  just  as  every  individual  can, 
and  will  be  precluded  from  using  any  that  are  under  the  protection  of  a patent  just 
as  long  as  individuals  generally  will.  When  the  patent  by  which  a right  is  secured 
has  expired,  that  right  becomes  public  property,  and  may  be  used  by  any  and  every 
person  in  the  country,  and  if  all  the  existing  companies  should  sell  all  their  property 
and  rights  to  the  Government,  they  could  not  sell  the  rights  of  the  public  to  make 
use  of  what  has  become  public  property  by  the  expi^-ation  of  patents,  nor  the  right 
to  use  anything  which  is  at  present  secured  by  and  under  the  protection  of  patents 
still  running,  when  they  shall  have  expired,  and  shall  also  have  become  public  prop- 
erty. 

“ That  is  not  all.  If  Congress  should  buy  the  exjsting  telegraph  lines  of  the  exist- 
ing telegraph  companies,  the  persons  constituting  those  companies  could  proceed  to 
construct  and  operate  new  lines  for  themselves  the  same  as  other  persons  could,  un- 
less they  had  precluded  themselves  from  doing  so  by  agreement  with  the  Govern- 
ment, and  the  right  given  by  the  Constitution  to  Congress  to  purchase  their  property 
(if  any  such  right  is  given)  does  not  carry  with  it  the  right  to  exact  any  such  agree- 
ment. In  short,  if  the  Government  shall  buy  out  all  the  property  and  rights  of  the 
existing  telegraph  companies,  uiion  the  familiar  legal  principle  that  the  grantor  can 
not  convey,  and  the  grantee  can  not  get,  what  the  grantor  does  notown,  the  Govern- 
ment could  not  get  the  right  to  prevent  any  persons  who  might  wish  from  construct- 
ing telegraphs  so  long  as  those  companies  themselves  had  no  right  to  prevent  them. 

“ There  is  a great  difference  between  those  rights  which  a government  has  as  a 
part  of  its  sovereignty  derived  from  the  source  of  sovereignty  and  those  which  it 
acquires  by  contract  from  private  persons,  in  which  latter  case  it  has  nothing  by 
virtue  of  its  sovereignty,  but  only  by  contract  with  the  individual,  and  only  what 
the  individual  has  the  power  to  give  it,  and  by  his  contract  does  give  it.” 

But  the  greatest  popular  objection  to  an  exclusive  government  telegraph  would  be 
its  constant  and  most  formidable  menace  to  our  fret*  institutions.  The  Government 
of  the  United  States  is  in  reality  a government  of  parties.  At  the  present  moment 
the  Government  is  in  the  hands  of  a most  aggressive  sectional  party.  If  that  party 
icontrolled  the  telegraph  service,  it  would  have,  through  the  rweuty  thousand  officials 
required  to  handle  the  service,  direct  and  complete  knowledge  of  eA*ery  telegram 
passing  over  the  wires.  Not  even  cipher  dispatches  would  be  sacred  because  there 
is  no  system  of  cipher  or  cr\  ptograpli  that  can  not  be  translated  into  intelligibility. 

With  a political  system  which  practicall}’’  consists  of  the  party  in  power  and  the 
party  out*of  power,  the  one  seeking  by  every  means  to  keep  itself  in  possession  of 
jControl,  while  the  other  is  equally  desirous  and  determined  to  get  in,  a government 
'telegraph  would  be  simply  a gigantic  political  machine  to  be  operated  by  the  party 
in  pow'er  in  its  own  interests  and  against  the  party  out  of  power.  The  mail  service 
is  enough  of  a political  engine  as  it  is,  but  suppose  all  the  letters  it  handled  were 
open  to  its  managers,  what  a monstrous  agent  of  despotism  it  would  be.  This  is 
□ either  more  nor  less  than  it  is  proposed  to  make  of  a government  telegraph. 

[Jacksonville  Times-Union,  March  17.] 

I Before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post  Roads  there  was  a very  in- 
teresting hearing  last  week  on  the  matter  of  a Government  postal  telegraph.  Mr.  Ralph 
Beaumont,  of  the  Knights  of  Labor,  addressed  the  committee,  and  (juoted  Dr.  Nor- 
vin  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  as  sajnng:  “If  the 
jrovernment  wants  to  hel})  the  peojile,  why  donT.  it  go  into  the  coal  business?  Lots 
>f  people  use  coal.  Why  don’t  the  Government  go  into  the  railroad  business  ? There 
ire  lots  of  people  who  use  railroads.  Why  select  the  telegraph  business?  Very  few 
)f  the  people,  comparatively,  use  the  telegraph.  .Not  one  {lercent.  of  the  whole  pop- 
ilation  is  comprehended  in  those  who  are  habitual  patrons  of  the  telegrafih.  It  is  a 
fact,  however,  that  thirtj’  per  cent,  of  the  Western  Union’s  business  is  from  specula- 
■jion  and  base-ball.” 

Mr.  Beaumont  doubtless  quoted  Dr.  Green  correctly  in  the  use  of  the  “don’t.”  The 
Western  Union  president  probably  said  “doesn’t,”  but  that  is  neither  here  nor  there. 


116 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


The  Knights  of  Labor  man  regarded  the  president’s  statement  as  rather  singular.  It 
does  not  appear  so,  however,  to  any  one  at  all  conversant  with  the  uses  to  which  the 
'telegraph  wires  are  put.  In  this  connection  it  will  doubtless  surprise  luauy  to  learh 
that  from  Jacksonville  alone,  since  the  three  league  ball  teams  have  been  here  in 
Florida,  there  have  gone  out  nightly  over  the  wires  after  match  games  an  average  of 
nearly  10,000  words  in  the  form  of  newspaper  specials.  On  one  or  two  occasi  ms  the 
nightly  aggregate  has  reached  15,000  words.  This  Florida  base-ball  season  is  only  a 
little  side-show  compared  to  the  regular  season  from  April  to  October.  With  two 
great  leagues  in  the  business,  and  many  other  professional  organizations,  the  tele- 
graph business  in  these  six  months  must  reach  enormous  proportions,  taking  the 
whole  country  and  Canada  into  consideration. 

As  a conclusion  from  Dr.  Green’s  information,  Mr.  Beaumont  argued  : “From  this 
statement  I learn  that  the  great  Western  Union  Telegraph  monopoly  is  not  on  a very 
sound  financial  footing.  For,  according  to  this  statement,  if  Ben  Bntterworth  suc- 
ceeds in  getting  his  bill  to  suppress  gambling  in  futures  passed  and  signed  by  the 
President,  and  the  presidents  of  the  two  national  base-ball  leagues  succeed  in  their 
efforts  to  get  the  courts  to  enjoin  each  (rom  playing  during  the  next  season,  the 
Western  Union  will  have  to  go  to  the  wall.  There  is  no  way  out  of  it.” 

He  leaves  out  of  the  consideration  entirely  the  remaining  70  per  cent,  of  the  com- 
pany’s business  derived  from  sources  outside  of  base'-ball  and  speculation.  But  then 
Congress  isn’t  going  to  pass  the  Butterworth  bill.  It  can’t  afford  to  break  ui)  the 
buying  and  selling  of  stocks,  options,  and  margins.  And  again,  this  base-ball  con- 
troversy, both  in  the  courts  and  out  of  them,  is  only  giving  an  added  interest  to  the 
sport.  More  people  will  patronize  it  this  year  than  ever  before. 

The  Western  Union  will  hardly  go  to  the  wall  this  year  by  lack  of  tolls  on  base-ball 
specials  over  the  wires. 

[J7ew  Orleans  Picayune,  March  17.  J 

The  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  of  the  House  of  Representatives  , 
has  been  for  some  time  busy  with  a proposition  to  establish  a postal  telegraph  system, 
a matter  which  has  Postmaster^eueral  Wauamaker  for  its  especial  champion.  The 
most  important  witness  that  appeared  before  the  committee  was,  of  course,  Mr.  Norviu 
Green,  President  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  who  naturally  was  op- 
posed to  the  Government  having  anything  whatever  to  do  with  telegraphic  interests. 
He  characterized  Mr.  Wauamaker’s  scheme  as  the  entering  wedge  in  a movement  to 
break  down  the  present  telegraph  business  of  the  country,  and  the  substitution  there- 
for of  a complete  Government  system. 

With  regard  to  the  charge  that  the  cost  of  telegraphing  in  this  country  was  higher 
than  in  England,  Mr.  Green  maintained  that  rates  in  the  United  States,  taking  into 
account  the  free  addresses  and  signatures  and  the  great  distances  to  be  covered,  were  , 
in  reality  lower  than  the  English  rates.  He  also  contended  that  the  Government  ; 
could  not  carry  out  the  Postmaster-General’s  scheme  except  at  a loss  unless  it  bought  ■ 
out  all  the  existing  companies  and  retained  to  itself  the  exclusive  right  to  maintain 
the  telegraph  service. 

Although  Mr.  Green  evident^  spoke  through  interested  motives,  as  was  naturally 
to  be  expected  under  the  circumstances,  it  is  equally  evident  that  he  said  some  whole- 
some truths.  It  is  evident  that  the  Government  has  yet  much  to  do  in  the  way  of 
perfecting  the  mail  service  that  is  anything  but  efficient  in  some  sections  of  the  coun- 
try before  attempting  to  tamper  with  a telegraph  service  in  addition.  Besides,  there 
are  many  people  who  believe  that  the  Federal  Government  abrogates  to  itself  too 
many  functions  already  for  the  good  of  the  public  service  or  'for  the  safety  of  the 
people. 

With  the  control  of  the  telegraph  service  it  would  not  be  long  before  attempts 
would  be  made  to  control  the  railway  system  as  well,  with  the  result  of  vastly  in- 
creasing the  already  numerous  army  of  Government  employes.  It  would  also  help  to 
a dangerous  extent  to  increase  the  power  of  the  General  Government  beyond  what  is 
accord^ed  it  by  the  Constitution. 

The  results  would  accelerate  the  centralization  tendency  that  has  been  in  the 
ascendant  for  so  long  and  further  diminish  the  consequence  and  power  of  the  sover- 
eign States.  Government  ownership  of  the  railroads  and  telegraphs  would  soon  bring 
about  the  aggrandizement  and  growth  of  a great  central  power  which  would  essay 
control  of  every  social  and  political  interest  and  reduce  the  States  to  mere  geograph- 
ical divisions  and  convert  the  citizens  into  subjects. 

5 

[Rocky  Mountain  News,  March  18.]  ' 

Wauamaker’s  scheme  to  establish  a telegraph  system  under  control  of  the  Govern-  ij 
ment  appears  to  collide  with  Frye’s  bill  for  funding  the  debt  of  the  Pacific  railroads.  | 
If  the  Wauamaker  scheme,  to  which  the  administration  is  committed,  meets  with 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


117 


nothing  more  serious  than  the  funding  bill,  it  is  sure  to  pass.  It  is  doubtful,  however, 
if  a majority  of  the  Congressmen  and  Senators  are,  ready  for  the  muster-in  of  another 
army  of  pnl>lic  servants.  If  the  civil-service  reform  were  on  solid  ground,  there 
would  be  less  danger  of  the  Government  telegraph  descending  to  the  level  of  a com- 
mon nuisance,  but,  as  matters  stand  now,  it  had  better  be  postponed.  The  organiza- 
tion of  rival  lines  .will  reduce  rates  and  increase  the  facilities  of  the  service  much 
faster  than  Government  interference.  The  American  people  have  not  yet  confessed 
their  inability  to  manage  the  telegraph.  • 

[Norfolk  Virginian,  March  20.  J 

The  testimony  given  by  President  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices,  and  the  statistical  exhibits  submitted 
by  him,  have  just  been  printed,  and  they  make  bad  work  of  some  of  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  theories.  Mr.  Green  stated  that  the  Government  could  operate  the  tele- 
igraph  if  it  saw  fit,  as  is  done  in  every  Euroi)ean  country.  “None  of  them,  however,” 
he  declared,  “ have  ever  operated  it  as  cheaply  or  as  efficiently,  in  my  judgment,  or 
as  satisfactorily'  to  the  public,  as  private  managers.”  He  add  d: 

“ If  they  furnish  service  to  the  public  somewhat  cheaper,  they  do  it  uniformly  at  a 
loss.  Evei.ybody  knows  that  the  principal  reason  for  the  Government  taking  the 
itelegrai)h  under  its  control  is  to  protect  the  Government  from  the  people.  In  this 
country  the  people  need  to  be  protected  from  the  Government.  The  Government  is 
the  servant  of  the  people.  Probably  the  cheap  rates  at  which  they  furnish  the  serv- 
ice is  to  placate  the  people  in  the  use  of  this  powerful  engine  of  espionage.” 

[New  York  Times,  March  22. J 

The  dull  monotony  of  a Congressional  inquiry  has  again  been  relieved  by  the  ap- 
pearance and  testimony  of  Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard,  the  w'ell-knowu  telephone  mill- 
ionaire, as  “friend  of  the  public.”  This  time  Mr.  Hubbard  has  aired  what  seemed 
to  be  his  opinions  concerning  the  pro[)osed  postal-telegraph  system  before  the  House 
Committee  on  thePost  Office  and  Post-Roads.  A few  days  ago  he  appeared  before  the 
House  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  to  o[)[)ose,  “in  behalf  of  the  public,”  the  pending 
bill  for  international  co})yright.  With  complete  devotion  to  the  service  of  the  people, 
he  declared  then  to  the  Judiciary  Committee  that  “ if  the  public  demanded  the  works 
of  an  American  author  the  demand  should  be  granted,”  even  if  it  should  be  necessary 
to  withhold  from  the  author  a copyright  and  thus  to  deprive  him  of  his  power  to 
obtain  pay  for  the  work  of  his  brains.  He  sought  to  convince  the  committee  that  the 
writings  of  authors  ought,  above  all  things,  to  be  made  cheap,  apparently  without 
regard  to  auy  rights  these  wretched  creatures  might  claim  to  have  in  tbeir  own  prop- 
erty. And  the  possibility  of  monopoly,  hehad  very  decided  opinions  a’'Out  that.  He 
was  torn  with  anxiety  lest  thereshould  be  “a  monopoly  of  book  j)ublication.”  Now 
he  tells  the  Committee  on  Post-Offices  that  he  is  “ in  favor  of  a cheap  telegraph.”  He 
finds  that  the  Western  Union  Company  is  unable  to  do  the  business  “ economically.” 
He  thinks  the  Government  should  take  charge  of  the  business  and  do  it  by  means  of 
contracts  with  theconlpauy.  He  longs  to  relieve  the  people  by  reducing  the  cost  of 
telegrajihing. 

How  Mr.  Hubbard’s  heart  must  ache  as  he  contemplates  the  greed  and  selfishness 
of  his  wicked  partners  in  the  Bell  Telephone  Company!  We  suppose  there  can  be 
nothing  more  harassing  to  a warm-hearted  philanthropist  than  to  be  associated  iu 
business  with  monopolists  whose  exactions  have  become  notorious.  Every  trans- 
action in  which  their  greed  is  shown  must  shock  him.  Every  time  the  Bell  Com- 
pany collects  S14  a year  in  rent  for  the  use  of  telephone  instruments,  the  entire  cost 
of  which  is  only  $3.42,  Mr.  Hubbard  must  be  moved  by  shame  and  indignation. 
With  reluctant  fingers  he  takes  the  great  dividends  that  are  the  fruit  of  greed  and 
monopoly,  pra3Mng  that  the  time  may  soon  come  when  his  partners  shall  see  the 
error  of  their  ways  and  he  shall  be  spared  this  humiliation. 

. We  presume  Mr.  Hubbard  will  admit  that  there  was  a time  when  he  was  equally 
culpable  and  greedy.  At  the  beginning  of  the  life  of  the  Bell  Company  he  owned 
one-third  of  the  stock,  and  Bell,  his  son-in-law,  another  third.  In  April,  1886,  he 
still  owned  a large  interest,  and  the  third  originally  lield  by  Bell  had  come  into  the 
possession  of  Mr.  Hubbard’s  daughter.  The  stock  was  watered  several  times.  In 
1880  the  present  company  was  formed  with  a nominal  capital  of  $10,000,000,  and  no 
less  than  $6,500,000  of  this  was  allowed  for  the  capital  stock  of  a preceding  company, 
that  capital  stock  being  only  $850,000,  and  representing  about  $110,000  paid  in.  Un- 
til a comparatively'  recent  date  the  transactions  of  the  comiiany,  or  rather  those  of 
:he  wicked  partners,  must  have  had  Mr.  Hubbard’s  approval,  for  he  appears  to  have_ 
aeld  two-thirds  of  the  stock  in  his  family  and  to  have  been  the  person  who  “de- 
veloped the  property.” 

Even  when  the  companies  in  and  around  Boston  were  consolidated,  and  the  Boston 


118 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


exchange  was  “ put  in  ” by  the  Bell  Company  at  ^3,894,300,  although  the  net  cost  of 
it  had  been  only  l|129,550,  we  snspect  that  Mr.  Hubbard  was  a consenting  partner. 
And  when  the  Bell  Company  began  to  take  the  local  companies  all  over  the  country 
by  the  throat  and  to  compel  them  to  surrender  from  35  to  50  per  cent,  of  their  capital 
stock  for  the  privilege  of  paying  |14  per  year  for  the  use  of  instruments  costing  |3.42^ 
Mr.  Hubbard  may  not  have  lifted  up  his  voice  in  dissent.  When  in  this  way  the 
parent  company  had  accumulated  more  than  $22,000,000  in  stock  ; when  it  was  com- 
pelling economically  managed  local  companies  to  water  their  stock ; when  it  made 
that  remarkable  contract  with  the  Western  Union  at  the  end  of  the  Dowd  suit;  when 
it  sought  by  deceptive  proceedings  in  the  Patent  Office  to  prolong  and  perpetuate  its 
monopoly  and  its  power  to  exact  extortionate  rates,  we  are  inclined  to  believe  that 
Mr.  Hubbard’s  attitude  was  still  one  of  approval. 

But  now  we  are  assured  upon  the  anthoritj'^  of  Mr.  Hubbard  himself  that  he  is  the 
unrelenting  foe  of  monopoly  and  the  champion  of  the  public  against  extortion  and 
exaction.  We  must  assume,  therefore,  that  the  shameful  exactions  and  greedy  mo- 
nopoly of  the  Bell  Telephone  Company  are  maintained  against  his  most  vigorous  X)ro- 
test.  We  expect  to  see  him  cut  loose  from  the  wicked  associates' who  compel  him  to 
share  the  odium  of  these  things,  and  to  assist  the  people  in  overthrowing  the  monop- 
oly these  unphilanthropic  men  enjoy. 

[ Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette,  March  23.] 


Mr.  Abner  McKinley  does  not  know  as  much  about  telegraphy  as  bethinks  he  does. 
It  is  well,  however,  to  have  a few  patents  to  apply  to  postal  telegraphy.  There  is  a 
good  deal  of  lumber  of  that  kind.  Any  practical  telegrapher  will  laugh  at  the  fan- 
tastical ignorance  that  proposes  the  abandonment  of  the  Morse  system. 


[Cincinnati  Commercial  Gazette,  March  25.1 

Mr.  Gardiner  Hubbard,  whose  anxieties  on  the  subject  of  postah telegraphy  are  un- 
abated by  the. advance  of  years,  has  from  time  iintremorial  been  unable  to  emancipate 
himself  from  the  original  illusion  that  there  is  an  identity  between  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  and  the  Western  Associated  Press.  If  the  venerable  gentleman 
could  fix  in  his  mind  the  fact  that  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  Western  Associated  Press,  or  any  style  of  Associated  Press, 
other  than  to  transmit  a certain  number  of  words  at  a fixed  rate  under  a carefully 
drawn  contract,  and  that  the  two  institutions,  owing  to  their  intricate  business  re- 
lations, have  had  a good  deal  of  friction  in  the  way  of  differences  of  opinion  between 
the  officers  of  the  concerns,  he  would  open  the  gates  of  his  mind  for  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  intelligence  he  needs,  before  he  undertakes  to  enlighten  the  country  about 
the  relations  between  the  press  and  the  telegraph.  It  doesnot  seem  to  interfere  with 
the  placidity  of  the  conscience  of  Mr.  Hubbard  to  accept  his  share  of  the  profits  from 
the  use  of  the  telephone,  and  he  ought  to  be  able  to  understand  the  rights  of  those 
who  have  during  many  j'ears  organized  and  adjusted  the  busiuess  of  the  Associated 
Press,  arranged  a vast  system  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  news,  employed 
hundreds  of  agents,  and  carried  on  a comprehensive  bnsiness  requiring  the  most 
scrupulous  attention  to  details. 

He  .should  not  be  hasty,  not  to  say  vindictive,  in  denouncing  thi.s  press  organization 
as  a monopoly.  He  would  probably  contest  the  justice  of  others  coming  in  and  tak- 
ing up  the  telephone  and,  when  they  have  done  nothing  in  the  invention  of  the  in- 
strument or  the  arrangement  of  its  affairs  so  as  to  make  them  profitable,  sharing  with 
him  and  others ; but  he  seems  to  regard  it  as  a shocking  circumstance  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Associated  Pre.ss,  who  have  been  for  thirty  years  building  it  up,  do  not 
invite  everybody  to  partake  with  them  in  the  enjoyment  of  its  advantages,  but  re- 
quire to  be  compensated  before  turning  over  to  new  enterprises  the  facilities  that 
have  been  gradually  developed.  The  truth  is  the  Associated  Press  has  dealt  very 
liberally  with  new  applications  for  membership,  and  one  who  is  as  familiar  with  the 
value  of  delicate  instruments  as  Mr.  Hubbard  may  be  supposed  to  be,  as  he  has  prof- 
ited so  largely  through  them,  ought  not  to  be  precipitate  in  accepting  responsibility 
for  the  utterance  of  accusations,  that  dealing  with  news  as  a commodity  to  be  bought 
and  sold,  and  increasing  the  value  of  newspaper  property  through  the  extension  of 
its  good  will,  implies  a grasping  trust  and  a criminal  policy. 

[Brooklyn  Citizen,  March  26.] 

Before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  at  Washington  yes--i 
terday  a hearing  upon  the  proposition  to  establish  a Government  postal  service  was. 
given  to  representatives  of  various  industries  in  New  York.  Mr.  Thurber,  as  a rep- ; 
resentative  of  the  Board  of  'I'rade  and  Transportation,  argued  in  favor  of  such  a tele- : 
graph,  but  without  giving  any  reason  for  desiring  it  further  than  that  1,000  firms 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


119 


were  now  using  the  Western  Union  lines  and  that  the  hoard  at  its  annual  convention 
had  always  favored  a Government  telegraph.  Mr.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard,  of  Wash- 
ington, made  the  point  that  inasmuch  as  the  company  had  erected  its  lines  out  of  the 
tolls  levied  upon  the  public  it  had  no  vested  interests,  arguing  from  that  premise 
that  the  Government  could  not  be  restrained  from  entering  into  competition  with  it. 
A great  deal  more  was  added  to  the  same  purpose,  which  may  be  summarized  as  the 
application  of  Republican  arguments  for  centralization  to  a proposition  to  centralize 
the  Government. 

The  subject  has  come  before  Congress  frequently,  but  not  in  some  years  with  any 
chance  of  success,  because  the  principle  embodied  in  it  is  glaringly  opposed  to  one  of 
the  fundamental  principles  of  Democracy.  Now,  with  both  branches  of  the  national 
legislature  in  sympathy  with  all  movements  to  centralize  authority  and  to  interject 
Government  control  into  everything  possible,  there  really  is  a slender  chance  at  least 
that  a bill  of  this  kind  may  pass.  No  Democrat  who  understands  why  he  is  such  is 
in  the  slightest  danger  of  allowing  himself  to  be  betrayed  into  any  sort  of  counte- 
nance to  the  scheme.  It  is  a sound  Democratic  doctrine  that  the  Government  which 
has  the  least  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  the  peojile  is  the  best,  and  in  harmony  with  this 
principle  is  the  Democratic  practice  of  allowing  the  people  to  do,  as  private  individ- 
uals or  corporations,  whatever  is  to  be  done,  subject  only  to  the  restrictions  and  regu- 
lations of  the  Government,  made  with  the  object  of  protecting  the  people  at  large 
against  wrong. 

The  demand  for  a Government  telegraph  is  based  upon  the  broad  general  proposi- 
tion that  the  people  are  wronged  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  because 
that  is  a monopoly,  and  the  only  remedy  for  a monopoly  is  to  establish  a Government 
rival.  That  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  is  practically  a monopoly  is  true. 
That  the  people  are  daily  and  hourly  wronged  by  it,  are  subjected  to  extortion  and 
other  villainy,  is  perfectly  true.  That  the  only  remedy  is  to  establish  a rival  which 
the  monopoly  can  not  buy  up  is  wholly  and  mischievously  false. 

When  did  the  Government  of  the  United  States  lay  down  its  arms  and  surrender  to  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  by  solemn  treaty  or  otherwise,  the  right  to  regulate 
in  the  most  specific  manner  its  affairs  ? Who  gave  to  Jay  Gould  imperial  rights  over 
and  above  those  of  the  railroad  companies  of  the  United  States,  and  supreme  control 
over  the  Federal  Government,  with  its  arms  to  back  it?  Since  when  was  this  odious 
association  of  robbers  erected  into  a Bey  of  Tunis,  to  which  the  United  States  must 
pay  tribute?  Does  it  possess  inherent  rights  and  powers  of  aggression  and  defense 
greater  than  those  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  ? We  think  not,  and  if  it  did,  ten 
times  over,  the  duty  of  this  Government  would  be  to  treat  it  as  it  treated  the  South- 
ern Confederacy,  to  attack  with  shot  and  shell  if  necessary,  rather  than  recognize  its 
independence  or  make  cowardly  treaty  with  it  as  with  an  equal.  That  is  democratic 
and  sound  American  doctrine,  and  any  other  is  treason. 

The  way  to  deal  with  the  Western  Union  Company,  then,  is  to  apply  precisely  the 
regulative  priucijdes  applied  with  great  success  to  the  railroads  of  the  country.  No 
Democrat  can  afford  to  agree  to  the  Republican  proposition  without  stultifying  his 
party  in  relation  to  the  interstate-commerce  act. 

fBellville  (111.)  News,  March  28.] 

The  whole  policy  of  the  Republicans  is  towards  the  assumption  by  the  General  Gov- 
ernment of  paramount  authority  over  everything  in  the  country.  There  is  not  a func- 
tion which,  by  its  nature,  is  not  wholly  confined  to  the  individual  that  this  party  of 
centralization  does  not  desire  to  control ; there  is  not  a social  or  commercial  question  it 
does  not  aspire  to  regulate.  Among  the  usurpations  it  meditates  is  the  possession  and 
control  of  the  telegraph  lines  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  proposed  to  lie  done  under 
the  pretense  that  it  is  to  be  made  a part  of  the  postal  system  of  the  United  States  for 
the  benefit  of  the  whole  people.  But  this  pretense  is  wholly  specious  and  deceptive, 
and  it  is  otily  necessary  to  call  attention  to  a few  points  of  difference  between  the 
letter  postal  service  and  an  alleged  telegraph  postal  service.  The  mails  are  open  to 
ail  who  can  write  or  can  procure  the  writing  of  a letter,  and  can  pay  2 cents  of  post- 
age upon  it.  There  are  more  than  60,000,000  people  in  the  United  States.  It  is  a fair 
and  reasonable  assumption  that  the  mails  are  actually  used  by  a very  large  majority 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  There  pass  through  the  mails  in  a year  more 
than  1,000,000,000  *letters  and  sealed  packa  ges,  written  probably  by  not  less  than 
40,000,000  of  the  people.  Itis  estimated  that  not  more  than  1,000,0(30  of  the  people 
use  the  telegraph.  It  is  not  then  like  the  mail  service,  a public  necessity  for  the  whole 
people;  but  it  is  a necessity  onh’^  for  certain  classes  of  the  people,  as  about  90  per 
cent,  of  the  telegraphing  is  done  by  and  for  the  mercantile  classes  and  the  newspapers. 
The  telegraph  service  is  therefore  best  carried  on  as  a private  enterprise,  and  the 
Government  has  no  more  reason  to  assume  the  conduct  of  it  than  it  has  to  take  the 
management  and  control  of  all  the  mercantile  and  manufacturing  and  transportation, 
enterprises  in  the  country.  Even  all  this  is  demanded  by  the  centralizing  socialists, 
but  it  would  be  going  out  of  the  way  to  consider  that  branch  of  the  subject. 


120 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Omaha  World- Herald,  March  30.1 

The  hoys  had  gathered  at  Gas’s  place  and  indulged  in  the  usual  number  of  cigars 
and  shop  talk.  About  every  branch  of  the  Telegraph  service  had  been  discussed  and 
several  very  thrilling  personal  reminiscences  indulged  in,  when  the  subject  of  postal 
telegraphy  was  broughr,  up  and  immediately  the  views  of  the  operators  were  expressed 
on  the  subject.  And,  strange  to  say,  unlike  the  Knigh  s of  Labor,  the  operators  are 
bitterly  opposed  to  Government  control  of  the  telegraphs.  The  “old  man,”  as  the 
boys  term  one  of  their  number  who  has  grown  gray  in  the  service,  gave  his  reasons 
which  to  the  telegrapher  who  is  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  situation  strikes  the 
key-note. 

“ 1 am  opposed  to  Government  control  of  telegraphs  because  there  is  reason  for  it,” 
he  said.  “ First,  1 will  take  up  the  habits  of  the  craft.  As  you  all  know  a large  pro- 
portion of  the  men  engaged  in  telegraphing  travel  about  the  country  at  their  will 
and  as  long  as  they  are  sober,  reliable  men  have  no  trouble  in  securing  work  at  the 
salary  their  ability  commands,  if  the  telegraph  was  put  under  control  of  the  United 
States  postal  service,  this  feature  would  be  eliminated.  Without  the  travel  incident 
to  a telegrapher’s  career,  the  protVssiou  would  hold  out  no  inducements  forthe  men  to 
remai.i  in  the  service,  and  the  travelers  would  soon  drop  out,  leaving  the  places  to 
the  stay-at-homes,  who  rarely  become  expert  telegraphers.  If  civil-service  rules 
would  be  adopted,  then  all  telegraphers  would  be  compelled  to  pass  an  examination 
and  be  classified.  Often  a man  with  a better  knowledge  of  geography  and  mathe- 
matics would  be  classed  above  men  deficient  in  that  class  of  education  but  far  superior 
in  penmanship  and  the  an  of  telegraphy.  Even  then  a man  after  securing  a place, 
should  he  wish  to  exchange  to  another  city,  would  be  compelled  to  wait  mouths  and 
wrestle  with  yards  of  red  tape  before  the  transfer  could  be  made.  This  one  fact  would 
be  sufficient  to  cause  me  to  leave  the  service.  But  this  is  but  a drop  in  the  bucket. 
In  fact  this  argument  is  insignificant  as  compared  with  the  others  which  I will  men- 
tion. 

“ Place  the  telegraph  under  Government  control  and  it  would  at  once  become  a 
part  of  the  great  political  machine  which  is  used  to  keep  one  party  in  power  and 
another  out.  Even  with  civil-service  rules  the  service  would  gradually  drop  down 
to  the  same  slough  the  postal  department  is  now  in.  That  is,  in  order  to  hold  a pay- 
ing position  a man  would  be  compelled  to  adopt  the  political  views  of  the  party 
domiuant*or  he  would  soon  be  out.  If  the  telegraph  is  placed  under  Wauamaker, 
Clarkson  &.  Co.’s  control  it  would  be  in  a far  worse  position  for  the  employd  than 
under  Gould,  Green  & Co.  With  the  latter  a man  who  is  a first-class  telegrapher  re- 
ceives first-class  wages  and  is  under  no  obligations  to  cast  his  vote  for  any  party  or 
parties;  but  should  Clarkson  be  placed  at  the  head  of  affairs  it  would  be  but  a short 
time  until  all  the  Republicans  would  have  the  plums  and  the  Democrats  be  used  to 
fill  in  until  Republicans  could  be  taught  sufficiently  to  di8i)lace  tl#em. 

“ Of  course  corporations  are  considered  to  be  soulless  affairs,  and  we  are  aware  that 
wages  have  declined  and  are  much  less  than  they  should  be,  yet  it  remains  a fact 
that  experts  are  [laid  expert’s  wages  and  poor  operators  })oor  wages.  This  is  just. 
Should  the  Government  take  charge  you  would  soon  find  miserably  poor  operators 
drawing  salaries  of  $1,000  per  year  and  upwards  and  first-class  men  rated  down  to 
$600  per  year.  You  ask  why  would  it  be  thus?  Easily  answered;  one  word  is  suffi- 
cient, and  that  is  ‘ influence.’  Through  the  influence  of  men  who  are  known  as  ward- 
workers  and  party-iighters  a man  with  no  ability  to  speak  of  would  be  appointed  to 
remunerative  places  while  other  men  with  ability  would  be  compelleil  to  do  the  heavy 
work  at  a reduced  salary.  The  superintendents,  managers,  and  chief  operators  would 
be  appointed  more  for  their  ability  to  pull  wires  than  to  work  them  and  use  them  to 
the  advantage  of  the  commonwealth.  Men  wdio  would  work  for  the  appointment  of 
a certain  person  as  postmaster  and  manager  would  of  course  be  rewarded  by  posi- 
tions. P^riends  of  (jongre.ssmen  would  have  berths  jjrovided  for  them,  and,  in  ])laiu 
words,  the  whole  thing  would  be  run  for  the  benefit  of  some  person’s  candidacy. 
Civil  service,  theoretically,  is  a fine  thing,  but  practically  it  amounts  to  chaff.  It  is 
a delusion  and  a snare  and  is  of  no  practical  service,  nor  would  it  be  in  the  telegraph 
service. 

“Then  Wauamaker  says;  ‘It  would  require  but  a short  time  to  teach  the  post- 
office  employes  the  art.’  Tbere  is  the  main  objection.  To  put  the  telegraph  in  the 
hands  of  the  Government  sounds  the  death-kuell  of  the  profession.  All  the  work 
done  to  reduce  the  ])roduction  of  operators  and  limit  the  supi)ly  to  the  demand  would 
come  fo  naught.  Plvery  [)Ost-office  would  be  teeming  with  students,  learning  the 
art,  and  every  person  taught  the  bnsine.ss  crowds  out  one  wdio  has  put  in  years  in  the 
service.  The  jiromise  would  be  given,  ‘ Suiiport  me  and  I will  see  that  your  son  or 
your  daughter  is  taught  to  be  an  o|)erat{)r.’  Idiis  [iromise  fulfilled  w'ould  glut  the 
country  with  a jioorcr  class  of  ojierators,  while  the  old  men  would  be  crowded  out. 
To  work  a heavy  wire  is  hard  labor,  and  w'ell  worth  the  salaries  paid,  but  once  indis- 
criminately teach  the  business  to  young  people  just  that  quick  will  the  salaries  be 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


121 


lowered.  An  economical  politician  would  soon  reduce  the  expenses  of  bis  depart- 
ment by  dismissing;  the  liigher  paid  men,  provided  they  were  of  the  opposite  political 
faith.  Under  Government  control  an  employe  would  have  no  guaranty  of  the  per- 
manency of  his  place.  The  Democratic  postal  clerks  had  but  little  show  under 
Clarkson.  Trumj)ed-np  charges  were  preferred  against  them,  and  Republicans  now 
fill  their  places.  No,  postal  telegraphy,  like  the  civil-service  reform,  is  a delusion. 
I want  nf  n)  of  it  in  mine,  and  I hope  never  to  see  it  become  a reality.  I understand 
thousands  of  Knights  of  Labor  have  petitioned  for  this.  Now,  these  men  undoubt- 
edly know  as  little  about  the  telegraph  service  as  I do  of  architectural  drawing,  and 
I think  they  step  out  of  their  sphere  in  petitioning  for  a thing  that  would  injure 
the  telegraphers  and  be  of  no  use  to  them.  It  would  benefit  the  speculators  and 
gamblers  and  injure  the  employ^  and  the  country  at  large.” 

fCiiicinnati  Conunercial  Gazettee,  March  30.] 

Old  Father  Hubbard  is  still  in  Irouble  about  the  circular  issued  by  the  executive 
officer  of  the  Western  Associated  Press  twenty-three  years  ago,  reminding  the  mem- 
bers that  they  had  valuable  considerations  in  their  contract  for  giving  their  special 
business  to  the  Western  Union.  Whenever  Father  Hubbard  goes  into  his  cupboard 
to  get  a bone,  he  pulls  out  this  dry  one.  The  inference  is  he  has  not  got  anything 
with  meat  on  it.  Eleven  years  have  passed  since  a contract  of  the  sort  was  made  by 
the  Western  Union  Company.  Twenty-three  years  ago  the  Western  Union  had  done 
the  Western  Associated  Press  a good  turn  by  giving  them  substantial  aid  in  defeating 
the  New  York  Associated  Press,  and  there  was  an  occasion  in  that  for  good  feeling  so 
far  as  the  West  was  concerned,  and  it  was  pioof  that  neither  the  New  York  nor  any 
other  Associated  Press  could,  control  the  Western  Union  Company.  Ifit  had  been 
the  policy  of  th  i Western  Union  to  establish  a news  monopoly,  that  was  the  time  to 
have  done  it.  The  course  of  the  comj)an,y  was  opposed  to  that.  The  Western  Asso- 
ciated Press  has  no  combination  with  the  Western  Union,  but  contracts  for  the  trans- 
mission of  a certain  numl)er  of  words  at  certain  hours.  That  is  the  whole  connection. 
The  Western  Associated  Press  has  an  immense  arrangement  tor  the  collection  of  news. 
It  extends  all  over  the  country  and  abroad,  comprehends  the  continent  and  all  lands 
touched  by  the  vires.  Any  other  company  c;in  have  the  same  work  done  on  the  same 
terms.  'I'his  does  not  seem  to  be  in  the  natuie  of  a monopoly. 

The  postal  telegraphic  movement  has  become  something  more  than  a raid  on  the 
, Western  Union.  It  is  meant  to  be  the  beginning  of  a vast  enterprise.  It  propo.sCs  to 
enlist  capital,  thiMugh  a sort  of  partnership  with  the  Government,  to  make  telegraph- 
ing official,  and,  under  pretense  of  cheapening  it,  to  destroy  existing  interests.  The 
I leading  idea,  to  take  the  four  hundred  towns  best  supplied  with  telegraph  facilities 
and  multiply  them,  is  an  absurdity,  for  it  is  asuperfiuity.  The  intention  is  that  this 
shall  be  the  preface.  The  volume  to  follow  is  to  contain  many  chapters.  Labor  is 
invited  through  its  organizations  to  co-operate,  because  it  is  meant  to  be  the  first  step 
in  a socialistic  crusade.  The  arguments  thi^t  apply  to  capturing  the  t*  legrai)h  ex- 
tend to  the  railroads.  If  Government  must  do  the  telegraphing  as  in  Europe,  why 
not  the  railroading  also  as  in  Europe!  But  tlien,  of  course,  the  tele{)hone  must  be 
taken  in,  and  \ . e presume  the  street-cars  of  all  descri|)tions.  The  express  companies 
are  to  be  absorbed,  as  a matter  of  course.  The  pretense  that  postal  telegraphy  is 
wanted  because  telegraphing  is  costly  can  not  be  sustained.  The  object  to  be  attained 
by  those  engaged  in  it  is  something  else  very  difierent.  That  which  is  sought  with 
the  greatest  avidity  is  power.  The  potentiality  of  handling  all  the  telegraphic  mes- 
sages and  supplying  official  news  bulletins;  of  spending  twenty  millions  to  extend  the 
telegrai)hic  system,  and  fifteen  millions  a year  to  maintain  the  extension  ; to  add  an 
army  of  messengers  to  the  army  of  operators,  and  see,  as  in  Europe,  that  the  press 
news  w’as  supplied  according  to  official  views — and  then  to  grab  the  railroads  and 
go  on  extending  the  offices  of  the  Government, — this  is  the  programme,  and  it  is  a 
que.stion  of  principle  rather  than  of  such  testimony  as  may  be  found  in  fractional 
facts.  We  do  not  think  the  Postmaster-General  has  viewed  the  landscape  o’er  care- 
fully.— (m.  h.) 

[Cinciuuati  Commercial  Gazette,  April  15.] 

There  is  a venerable  gentleman  in  Washington  known  to  one  class  of  his  admirers 
as  Old  Mother  Hubbard,  in  the  silver  of  whose  beard  scalding  crocodile  tears  are 
ever  sparkling.  The.se  are  shed  in  never-ending  streams  over  visions  wdiich  he  sees 
of  oppressions  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Comjiany  and  the  daily  jiress  of  the 
country.  He  seems  to  think  that  an  organization  which  enables  all  publishers  of 
newspapers  to  furnish  their  readers  with  column  after  column  of  telegraphic  news 
from  every  quarter  of  the  earth  for  from  3 to  5 cents  is  a ruthless,  crushing,  and  blood- 
sucking monopoly. 

And  so  this  old  gentleman,  with  his  guileless  face,  haunts  the  committees  of  Congress 
year  after  year  with  obsolete  contracts  and  stale  statistics  of  the  days  when  the  tele- 


122  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


gpph  system-  was  being  developed,  and  sheds  his  tears,  and  bemoans  the  terrible  in- 
flictions of  monopoly. 

No  one  would  suppose  this  sanctimonious  old  gentleman  to  be  a very  hi<rh  priest  of 
monopoly.  Mr.  Gardner  G.  Hubbard  is  the  professional  mourner  of  the^Bell  Tele- 
phone Company.  His  daily  business,  and  the  source  of  his  enormous  revenue  is  to 
sit  in  public  places  in  Washington,  and  mourn  and  wring  his  hands,  and  weep  over 
the  extortions  of  the  Western  Union. 

denunciations.of  monopoly  he  never  gives  a hint  that  he  is  one  of 
the  chiet  directors  m a company  which  earns  23^  per  cent,  on  a capital  stock  which 
IS  nine-tenths  water  and  some  of  the  rest  wind.  He  says  nothing  of  18  per  cent,  divi- 
dends  which  he  has  received,  or  of  a surplus  of  over  12,000,000  after  nearly  another 
rnihion  had  been  hidden  in  a corner  called  “general  depreciation.”  Not  he.  For 
he  18  not  that  kind  of  a professional  mourner.  It  i«  the  sins  of  others,  not  his  own, 
tllat  move  his  heart.  He  says  not  a word  of  the  regular  charge  of  |l4  a year  to 
branch  companies  for  rattle-box  telephones  which  only  cost  |3.42  to  manufacture,  the 
cheapest  and  worst  of  several  excellent  patents.  Mr.  Hubbard  has  been  as  silent  as 
the  grave  over  the  fact  that  at  a meeting  where  he  presided  the  directors  put  in 
the  plant  of  a branch  ofhce  which  cost  |129, 550  at  a capitalized  valuation  of  $3,894,300. 
And  yet  this  genial  and  benevolent  old  gentleman  and  professional  mourner  over  the 
monopolies  ot  telegraphs,  while  upholding  and  practicing  and  proflting  by  the  giant 
el^trical  monopoly  of  the  age,  cries  aloud  day  and  night  for  cheap  telegraphino-. 

The  beam  in  his  own  eye  is  about  the  size  of  a switch-board  in  one  of  his  Ingest 
exchanges.  It  is,  therefore,  not  strange  that  he  can  not  accurately  measure  the  mote 
in  the  eye  of  the  Western  Union.  i 

The  Washington  newspapers  show  him  to  be  a pillar  of  that  fashionable  church  j 
where  the  administration  chiefly  worships.  He  is,  so  to  speak,  one  of  the  directors  - 
there.  His  contributions  on  public  occasions  are  impressive.  As  he  bows  his  venera-  ■ 
ble  head  m comfortable  meditation  thousands  of  telephone  girls  at  three  dollars  a ’ 
week  are  loading  the  quiet  of  Sabbath  hours  all  over  the  laud  with  “ Hello,  hello  ; ’ 
number,  please.”  It  is  almost  as  sad  a subject  as  the  “ Song  of  the  Shirt”  suggests.  ' 
But  because  of  this  grinding  of  the  poor  a steady  stream  of  dividends  flow  in^o  the 
pockets  of  Brother  Hubbard  at  a rate  which  makes  a good  showing  for  every  second  * 
ot  time.  Indeed,  the  income  which  flows  in  during  one  of  the  average  prayers  of  ^ 
Dr.  Hamhn  would  go  far  toward  supporting  a foreign  missionary  station.  But  it  is  1 
a part  of  the  play  that  as  these  revenues  wrung  from  the  poor  and  made  up  also  of  ■ 
inexcusable, extortions  from  every  rank  of  society  come  pouring  in.  Brother  Hubbard  ■ 
shall  parade  his  mourning  and  mild  gnashing  of  teeth  over  the  monopoly  of  tele- 
graphing, which,  by  the  side  of  his  giant  monopoly,  becomes  a full  fledged  benevolent 
institution.  ® ! 

[Denison  (Tex.)  Gazette,  April  20.]  | 

} 

It  is  reported  in  New  York  that  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  pet  postal  telegraph  scheme  has 
suflered  a sudden  collapse.  The  story  goes  that  Jay  Gould  gave  Mr.  Harrison  to  un-  ! 
derstand  that  the  propo.sed  system  was  inimical  to  his  interests,  and  hinted  that  his  < 
influence  was  worth  something  in  a political  campaign.  The  result  was  that  Mr.  | 
Wanamaker  was  advised  to  drop  his  favorite  hobby  for  the  present  | and  there  is  | 
little  doubt  the  public  have  heard  the  last  of  it,  so  far  as  the  Postmaster-General  is  I 
concerned.  I 

[New  Orleans  States,  April  23.1  s 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  scheme  is  apparently  as  dead  as  a mackerel,  j 
and  it  is  stated  at  Washington  that  Jay  Gonld  dealt  it  the  fatal  blow  by  giving  the  I 
Ben  Harrison  administration  to  understand  that  if  snch  a bill  was  passed  by  Con- 
gress that  the  Republican  })an  would  never  again  get  any  of  his  fat,  and  that  he 
would  make  it  warm  for  the  Republican  party  in  many  other  ways.  This  shot  brought 
the  bird  ofl  the  roo.st,  and  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  been  given  to  understand,  it  is 
staled,  that  he  will  have  to  ])igeon-holo  his  little  scheme  as  a matter  of  expediency^ 
and  for  the  sake  ot  money  for  the  next  presidential  campaign.  i 

• ' I 

[Abingdon  Virginian,  Ma3'  1.] 

Ibe  "Wh^stern  Union  has  acquired  a monopoly  of  the  telegraph  business.  Its  plant- 
could  be  (luplicati'd  for  less  than  one-fourth  of  the  securities  it  has  outstanding  ; or! 
in  plain  English,  the  idant  is  \yorth  $20,00(),fl00,  and  the  public  pays  interest  on  $80,-J 
009,000,  viz  : 4 he  ])ublic  pays  interest  on  $60,000,000  of  mere  water. 

Gould  j)ractically  owns  the  telegraph.  The  following  news  item  is  interesting  : 

Postma.ster  Wanamaker  has  been  arguing  for  a Government  telegraph.  The  Presi- 
dent has  ordered  him  to  let  the  subject  drop,  because  the  Gould  influence  was  on  the 
side  of  the  administration.  i 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


123 


[Providence  Journal,  May  1.  ] 

' New  York,  April  30.— The  Times  says  that  one  of  the  first  pleasures  which  Mr. 

I Gould  will  enjoy  on  his  return  from  the  southwest  to-day  will  be  a report  made  to 
I him  by  a confidential  representative,  whom  he  lately  had  looking  over  things  at 
Washington.  This  report  has  particularly  to  do  with  the  Western  Union  Telegraph 
i Company,  and  the  recent  eft’orts  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  to  establish  an 
opposition  company  under  Government  patronage.  It  is  said  to  be  declared  iu  this 
report  that  the  Wanamaker  scheme  is  already  practically  disposed  of,  that  a close 
canvass  of  the  views  of  members  of  Congress  reveals  the  fact  that,  even  if  the  com- 
mittee were  to  report  in  favor  of  it  at  once,  it  could  never  pass,  as  there  is  a majority 
of  not  less  than  ten  votes  in  the  House  against  the  scheme. 

[Rome  (N.  Y. ) Sentinel,  May  2.  ] 

Mr.  Wanamaker’s  postal  telegraph  scheme,  whereby  he  hoped  to  immortalize  his 
name,  appears  to  have  been  eft'ectually  sand-bagged  by  President  Harrison  in  the  in- 
terest of  good  politics.  The  efforts  of  the  Postmaster-General  to  establish  telegraph 
lines  under  the  Government  patronage  in  opposition  to  Jay  Gould’s  Western  Union 
monopoly  were  commendable  enough  in  the  abstract,  but  Mr.  Wanamaker,  in  his  zeal 
to  do  something  for  the  public  weal,  does  not  appear  to  have  weighed  the  matter 
in  all  its  bearings.  But  the  President,  upon  advice,  served  his  notice  upon  the  Postmas- 
ter-General that  he  would  better  let  up  on  his  war  against  the  Western  Union,  in 
view  of  favors  received  in  1888,  and  further  favors  expected  in  1892.  The  postal  tel- 
egraph bill  reposes  in  the  House  committee,  and  there  is  no  danger  that  it  will  be  the 
source  of  further  trouble  to  Mr.  Gould.  Mr.  Wanamaker  promises  to  become  quite  a 
politician  if  he  remains  under  tutorship  long  enough,  but  he  has  a great  deal  to  learn, 
and  his  innocence  in  pouncing  upon  Jay  Gould  must  have  brought  a grin  to  the  face 
of  many  a crafty  old  wire  puller  of  the  g.  o.  p. 

[ Omaha  World-Herald,  May  8.] 

Some  time  ago  the  country  at  large  heard  with  delight  that  a postal  telegraph  sys- 
tem was  to  be  inaugurated  by  Mr.  John  Wanamaker — a system  in  which  the  prompt- 
ness and  efficiency  of  the  Post-Office  Department  was  to  be  skillfully  blended  and 
gracefully  mingled  with  the  low  charges  which  have  made  “ the  store”  so  famous  iu 
the  land.  The  public  had  visions  of  youthful  and  beautiful  maidens  who  did  not 
f chew  gum  Receiving  the  most  intricate  messages  with  the  sweetest  smile,  and  finger- 
ing the  nickel-plated  instrument  with  deft  and  rosy  fingers  like  the  morning  as  they 
sent  messages  on  their  winding  way  over  the  mountains  and  through  the  valleys  to 
their  destination. 

The  offices,  instead  of  being  dingy  and  dirty,  were  to  be  hung  with  beautifully 
illustrated  mottoes,  such  as  Respect  youiisuperiors ; ” “ Cheaper  than  the  cheapest ; 
“Eschew  beer  and  base  ball;  ” “ 100  miles  for  a dime  ; ” “ We  can  not  be  undersold.” 
These  would  have  been  gotten  up  at  public  expense,  in  the  highest  style  of  art,  and 
distributed  profusely  among  all  operators.  The  service  was  to  have  been  prompt  and 
effective,  each  message  received  having  precedence  of  all  others,  so  that  no  one  could 
complain.  The  price  would  have  been  something  wonderful  from  its  cheapness,  and 
* this  economy  would  have  been  rendered  possible  by  the  enforcement  of  the  simple  law 
of  supply  and  demand,  which  has  proven  so  successful  in  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  business 
experience.  All  the  young  lady  operators  needed  for  the  service  could  have  been 
employed  at  |3  a week,  as  has  been  abundantly  proved  at  the  Philadelphia  estab- 
lishment. “A  thing  is  worth  what  it  will  bring,”  and  why  should  a girl  be  paid 
more  than  she  can  be  hired  for,  has  been  the  rule  there,  and  it  has  worked  success- 
fully. And  the  great  energies  of  Mr.  vVanamaker  were  to  be  bent  in  utilizing  this 
I scheme  of  economy  for  the  benefit  of  the  public. 

But  the  Western  Union  and  its  alliances  came  down  upon  the  administration  “ like 
i a wolf  on  the  fold,”  speaking  of  ptlitical  favors  already  rendered,  and  of  assistance 
I hoped  for  in  the  future,  and  “like  the  baseless  fabric  of  a vision,”  Mr.  Wanamaker’s 
dream  of  cheap  telegraphy  silently  faded  away.  And  Mr.  Wanamaker  sighs  in  his 
: seclusion,  at  the  frustration  of  his  ambitious  plans,  and  tearfully  teaches  his  Sunday 
; scholars,  “ put  not  your  faith  in  princes.” 

[Bellefonte  (Pa.)  Republican,  May  8.1 

It  is  said  to  be  declared  that  the  Wanamaker  scheme  is  already  practically  disposed 
I of.  It  is  known  that  President  Harrison,  some  time  ago,  served  notice  on  Wanamaker 
i that  the  much  exploited  postal  telegraph  scheme  had  very  bad  political  bearings,  and 
the  Postmaster-General  was  virtually  notified  that  he  must  cease  his  aggressiveness- 
I against  Mr.  Gould’s  Western  Union  Company — in  view  of  favors  received  in  1888  and 


124 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


expected  in  1892.  Irora  that  time  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  been  going  very  slow.  His 
postal  telegraph  bill  reposes  calmly  in  a Congressional  committee,  and  according  to 
this  report  now  made  (after  carelul  investigation),  there  isn’t  the  slightest  probability 
that  it  can  be  resurrected  at  this  session  uf  Congress. 

1 he  maker  of  this  report  says  that  he  made  a close  canvass  of  the  views  of  members 
of  Congress,  apd  he  finds,  he  says,  that  even  if  the  committee  were  to  report  in  favor 
of  it  at  once,  it  could  never  pass.  According  to  the  reports,  there  is  a majority  of  not 
less  than  ten  votes  in  the  House  against  the  Wanamaker  scheme — a scheme,  by  the 
by,  which  isn’t  quite]  so  much  Mr.  Wauamaker’s  as  it  seemed  to  be  a little  whileago, 
before  the  Postmaster-General  and  his  worthy  chief,  the  President,  swapped  some 
ooufidences  about  the  value  of  Jay  Gould’s  friendship  and  came  to  an  understanding. 

f Jacksonville  Times-Union,  May  8.] 

It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  tho  Jacksonville  Board  of  Trade  will  not  lend  its 
influence  to  the  furtherance  of  any  Congressional  measure  looking  to  the  absolute  or 
oven  partial  control  of  the  American  telegraph  system  by  the  National  Government. 
The  Govepiment  flnds  it  impossible  to  make  its  postal-service  self-sustaining,  and  it 
has  been  in  the  business  for  over  a hundred  years.  It  could  never  make  a postal- 
telegraph  system— not  even  a limited  one— self  sustaining.  It  might  possibly  give 
the  people  cheaper  telegraphy — and  this  is  a matter  of  much  doubt- but  the  people 
would  have  to  pay  the  difference  and  perhaps  more  in  the  form  of  taxes. 

I he  hisforj^  of  the  telegraph  system  in  this  couutrv  shows  a constant  decrease  in 
rates.  This  decrease  is  going  on  every  day.  Why  should  the  (ioverument,  which 
has  no  right  to  meddle  with  the  business  of  individuals,  engage  in  an  occupation  of 
which  it  knows  nothing?  The  result  of  a measure  of  this  kind  would  be  ouly  the 
creation  of  a vast  number  of  offices  to  be  filled  by  political  preference,  an  enormous 
■expense  in  their  maintenance,  and  a consequent  burden  upon  the  people  instead  of  a? 
boon.  In  many  respects  the  telegraph  rates  in  this  country  are  already  cheaper  than* 
in  those  countries  where  the  system  is  under  Government  control,  and  all  the  world' 
knows  that  the  service  is  far  superior.  These  statements  can  easilv  be  proved. 

The  Government  has  too  much  to  look  after  now— and  do  it  well.  Let  it  not  bur-  ■ 
den  itself  with  new  responsibilities  which  ouly  breed  infinite  mischief  and  do  thepeo-^ 
pie  no  good.  : 

[Buffalo  Times,  May  21.] 

Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  has  little  sympathy  in  his  efforts  to  secure  a postal* 
telegraj)h  system.  The  whole  people  should  not  be  taxed  to  maintain  telegraph  lines' 
which  only  a few  would  use.  The  people  who  use  the  telegraph  are  not  required  to( 
pay  exorbitantly.  . j 

[Galveston  N^s,  May  22.] 

^ Once  more  Dr.  N.  Green  has  appeared  before  a Congressional  committee  to  answer^ 
inquiries  regarding  the  operation  of  telegraphs  and  their  expenses,  with  reference' 
to  Postmaster-General  Wananiaker’s  ])roposition  to  establish  a Government  service 
as  a branch  ()f  the  postal  business.  On  a former  occasion  Dr.  Green  compared  the 
Western  Union  service  with  the  English  Government  service,  showing  the  excellent 
results  attained,  and  that  the  service  in  the  United  States  compares  favorably  with 
any  other  telegraph  service  in  the  world  in  extent  and  responsibilitv  to  its  customers 
and  in  cheapness  according  to  distances,  even  though,  as  all  will  admit,  the  popula- 
tion of  this  country  has  not  yet  the  degree  of  density  required  for  a favorable  com- 
parison to  be  expected.  All  who  have  fairly  and  carefully  studied  the  question  are 
forced  to  admit  that  the  demands  of  business,  both  mercantile  and  that  of  the  news- 
paper jiress,  are  tolerably  well  served  by  the  telegraph  in  the  United  States,  whether 
•compaiison  be  made  with  Government  servicei  n the  same  line  in  other  countries  or 
with  Unitecl  States  Government  service  in  other  spheres,  or  with  other  branches  of 
piivate  bnsines  recjuiring  anything  like  a similar  conibination  of  capital  and  organ- 
ization of  working  tor<*es,  and  to  admit  also  that  there  has  been  a steady  advance, 
lesponding  fairly  to  demands  for  extension  ot  lines  and  lowering  of  charges.  If  such 
a system  is  to  be  lightly  disorganized  in  order  to  try  experiments  in  Government  con- 
trol, the  change  will  involve  serious  risks. 

Di . (ii'een’s  information  is  exhaustive  and  his  candor  is  unquestionable,  for  he  is. 
dealing  with  s(*arching  and  hostile  critics,  and  being  a man  of  high  intelligence  he 
knows  that  a trntht'nl  statement  of  facts  is  the  only  rock  of  defense.  According  to 
Di . Green  s testimony  Mr.  W anamaker’s  plan  would  cut  rates  40  percent.,  but  to 
make  the  ft'legraph  conqiany  run  at  a loss  it  would  only  be  necessary  to  cut  rates  25 
per  cent.  Here  is  a proposal  to  fix  certain  rates  and  offer  them,  and  they  are  such 
low  rates  that  no  existing  com|>any  could  accept  them  and  live.  Such  a'  plan  may 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


125 


be  preliminary,  of  course,  to  a concealed  scheme  for  the  Government  to  acquire  the 
telegraphs  in  bankruptcy  or  engage  in  construction  to  ruin  existing  companies  by 
governmental  competition.  There  are  so  many  olqections  to  these  sorts  of  dealing 
that  the  embarrassment  is  as  to  which  are  the  strongest.  Should  the  Government 
dictate  terms  that  involv’-e  loss  to  the  companies  f Should  Government  officials  be 
permitted  by  support  of  Congress  to  wreck  establivshed  private  enterprises  and  make 
a field  for  the  organization  of  new  ones  in  which  prominent  men  may  become  in- 
terested and  which  could  never  succeed  on  the  proposed  t-  rtns  unless  l)y  t e aid  of  a 
subsidy  that  could  not  be  granted  without  suspicion  of  a job?  Should  the  telegraph 
service  of 'the  country,  including  market  and  press  reports,  political  matter  of  the 
Associated  Press  and  all  dispatches,  even  the  Washington  s{)ecials  of  independent 
papers,  be  put  under  the  control  of  partisan  officials  ? The  patriotic  citizen  may  well 
shiver  with  dismay  when  he  contemplates  such  a prospect.  And  what  shall  be  said  of 
the  plain  business  aspect  as  to  connnercial  and  ordinary  domestic  dispatches?  At 
present  if  such  messages  are  not  sent  correctly  and  accor<ling  to  contract  the  customer 
can  get  damages.  Bub  whenever  the  Government  handles  a message  it  is  not  res})on- 
sible  for  error  or  carelessness.  The"  objections  are  so  numerous  and  grave  that  they 
can  not  be  discussed  in  the  limits  of  a newspaper  article,  but  would  reijuire  a vol- 
ume, This  has  induced  the  News  to  brietly  indicate  son;e  of  them  by  asking  these 
few  questions  for  the  citizen  and  business  man  to  reilect  upon. 

The  Wanamaker  scheme  is  fraught  with  even  greater  dangers,  for  it  can  not  be 
carried  out  according  to  the  general  plan  which  ol)tains  in  all  Government  De|)art- 
ments,  viz,  that  where  the  Go^'ernment  is  engaged  it  will  have  no  competitor,  with- 
otit  ultimately  disallowing  all  private  wires  even  for  the  service  of  opposition  m^ws- 
papers.  It  does  not  matter  what  i)reteuses  the  paternalists  and  invaders  of  private 
rights  make  to  get  their  hands  in,  and  if  some  of  them  do  not  see  the  whole  scope  of 
their  pleas  and  acts,  others  see  more  than  t.hey  care  to  avow.  'I’he  Wanamaker  lull, 
if  not  absolutely  dishonest  in  inteut,  is  one  which  no  wmll  lellecting  honeet  man  can 
sup'iort,  for  it  starts  with  an  arbitrary  offer  below  the  market  price  and  cost  of  serv- 
ice and  tends  to  twist  an  important  enterprise  out  of  joint,  to  force  it  to  the  wall, 
and  from  th  very  first  to  substitute  Government  irres{)onsibility  aud  the  delays  of 
the  post-office  system  for  the  promptness  and  responsibility  of  one  of  the  greatest 
private  enterprises  in  the  world.  Mr.  Wanamaker  started  his  campaign  against  the 
telegraph  company  by  arbitrarily  refusing  to  pay  half  what  the.  service  costs.  He 
made  and  published  the  gross  statement  that  the  Western  Union  charged  Govern- 
ment for  what  it  does  not  charge  the  business  public  for — alluding  to  address  and 
signatures — which  is  no  more  true  than  it  would  be  against  Mr.  Wanamaker  if  he 
sold  the  Government  pantaloons  at  half  price,  but  charged  1 cent  for  the  wrapper. 
Such  methods  of  advocacy  do  uot  show  scrujiulous  car>  or  argue  quite  the  right 
spirit.  They  are  fit  for  observation  as  warnings  a ainst  base  demagogism. 

The  News  sini  erely  trusts  that  Congressmen  will  look  carefully  into  any  scheme  of 
mixing  Government  with  a business  like  the  telegraph  service  before  they  giv  it  an 
inch  of  support,  and  that  they  will  not  lose  sight  of  the  inevitable  end  of  any  such 
complicatioi  , which  will  lie  as  certain  as  the  judgment  day,  to  land  the  entire  serv- 
ice in  a partisan  administrative  control,  as  the  admitted  foreign  prototype  is  Govern- 
ment ownership  and  operation  of  the  lines.  There  is  much  in  a Fiench  proverb  which 
says  that  the  first  step  is  practically  everything.  In  this  dangerous  aud  slippery 
scheme  let  us  beware  of  the  first  step  or  the  entering  wedge. 

[ Buffalo  Times,  May  22  ] 

If  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  would  pay  more  attention  to  the  postal  service 
and  put  aside  his  hobby  of  a costly  postal  telegraph,  the  country  would  be  better 
served. 


[Petersburg!!  Index-Appeal,  May  23.] 

When  Dr.  Norvin  Green,  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company, 
appeared  before  the  House  Committee  on  the  Post-Office  and  Post- Roads,  the  other  day, 
he  had  a most  sympathetic  questioner  in  Chairman  Bingham.  The  latter’s  interrog- 
atories were  always  so  framed  as  to  elicit  the  most  advantageous  responses.  Aside 
from  this,  however,  if  the  figures  adduced  by  Dr.  Green  state  accurately  the  relative 
cost  of  the  transmission  and  <lelivery  of  messages  now  and  what  it  would  be  if  the 
postal  telegraph  bill  favored  by  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  were  to  become  a 
'law,  his  statements  go  a long  way  to  prove  that  the  views  heretofore  expressed  on 
this  subject  by  the  Index-Appeal  are  pretty  nearly  in  the  straight  line  of  equity  and 
justice. 

The  Government  can  not  afford  to  do  anything  to  injure  the  property  of  its  citizens, 
whether  such  property  be  held  by  an  individual  or  by  a corporation.  Dr.  Green  put 
the  case  in  a nutshell  when  he  declared  that  if  the  Government  wants  to  be  fair  and 


126 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


just,  it  ought  to  buy  existing  telegraph  lines,  just  as  European  governments  have 
done  in  similar  cases.  There  is  neither  rhyme  nor  reason  in  the  Government  becom- 
ing a competitor  of  existing  corporations,  for  with  unlimited  resources  and  preponder- 
ating influence  it  would  pitilessly  crush  all  opposition. 

Now,  it  would  not  be  a fair  price  for  the  Western  Union  property,  for  instance,  to 
take  it  at  the  fictitious  valuation  placed  upon  it  by  means  of  its  watered  stock  which, 
we  believe,  runs  up  into  the  neighborhood  of  a hundred  million  dollars.  It  has  been 
repeatedly  stated  by  telegraph  experts,  examined  by  Congressional  committees,  that 
the  entire  plant  of  the  Western  Union  company  could  be  duplicated  for  thirty  million 
dollars.  Taking  this  to  bo  the  very  lowest  estimate,  and  the  Western  Union  com- 
pany’s figures  as  the  very  highest,  we  should  think  that  fifty  million  dollars  might 
be  a fair  price  for  this  property.  The  correct  valuation  of  this  property,  however, 
and  of  all  other  properties  which  the  Government  would  have  to  acquire,  could  be  es- 
tablished only  by  the  decision  of  a commission  composed  of  men  of  such  unquestion- 
able integrity  that  their  verdict  would  be  absolutely  unassailable. 

There  is  but  one  reasonable  and  perfectly  just  mode  of  procedure.  Public  senti- 
ment is  in  the  main  in  favor  of  the  Government’s  taking  control  of  telegraphic  com- 
munication, such  as  it  now  has  of  the  mails,  so  as  to  make  it  as  cheap  as  possible  for 
the  people.  Two  ways  are  open  to  accomplish  this ; either  the  Government  must 
build  its  own  lines,  or  it  must  purchase  those  already  built.  The  first  of  these  prop- 
ositions ought  not  to  be  tried  until  the  attempt  to  carry  out  the  other  has  been  made. 
The  Government  ought  to  become  the  purchaser  of  existing  telegraph  properties,  pro- 
vided, of  course,  that  they  can  be  bought,  as  Dr.  Green  says  they  were  bought  in 
Europe,  at  a fair  price. 

Another,  and  we  take  it  quite  forcible  reason  why  the  Government  should  purchase 
existing  lines,  is  that  by  that  means  it  would  at  once  obtain  possession  of  the  com- 
plete machinery  required  for  a postal  telegraph  service.  The  construction  of  lines 
covering  the  entire  country  as  fully  as  it  is  now  covered  by  the  Western  Union,  the  . 
Postal  Telegraph- Cable  and  other  systems,  would  require  many  years  of  labor,  and. 
people  in  some  parts  of  the  Union  would  be  anxiously  waiting  for  the  good  time  com- 
ing, while  people  in  other  parts  were  already  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  it.  Besides  the 
building  of  a Government  telegraph  system  should  only  then  be  undertaken  when  it  , 
becomes  evident  that  a purchase  of  existing  properties  at  a fair  price  can  not  be  ac-' 
complished.  , 


[Toronto  World,  May  23.] 

The  Postmaster-General  of  the  United  States  is  making  strong  efforts  to  secure  con- , 
trol  of  the  telegraph  lines  and  have  them  operated  by  the  Government.  This  would 
be  quite  an  extensive  piece  of  patronage,  and  would  aid  materially  in  keeping  any( 
Government  in  power.  | 

[Cincinnati  Times-Star,  May  27.J 

The  efforts  to  secure  Government  encouragement  toward  the  establishment  of  a ; 
postal  telegraph  system  have  not  proved  a monumental  success.  Dr.  Norvin  Green 
succeeded  in  convincing  the  committee,  to  which  were  referred  the  Edward  Bellamy 
plans,  that  they  were  entirely  impracticable  in  a country  of  so  wide,  an  area  as  Amer- 
ica. He  showed  that  the  rates  for  telegraphing  in  this  country  had  been  reduced  as 
fast  as  the  business  would  warrant  a reduction," but  that  a horizontal  reduction,  such 
as  the  postal-telegraphing  scheme  contemplated,  would  mean  either  ruin  and  bank- 
ruptcy to  telegraph  companies  or  enormous  Government  subsidies,  A reduction 
of  40  per  cent,  in  the  telei)hone  rates,  Dr.  Green  said,  would  close  every  telephone' 
exchange  in  America,  and  one  of  even  25  per  cent,  would  cause  many  exchanges  to 
forever  close  their  doors,  and  telegraph  companies’  rates  were  figured  on  even  closer 
margins.  He  did  not  believe  it  to  be  the  part  of  good  Government  to  start  in  busi- 
ness^ to  the  detriment  of  companies  it  is  sui)posed  to  protect.  Even  the  English  postal 
system  was  not  started  in  competition  with  English  citizens. 

This  country  has  not  reached  that  paternal  stage  where  it  can  safely  be  trusted 
with  the  care  of  its  citizens  as  a father  cares  for  his  children. 

Governmental  ownershij)  of  the  railroads,  of  telegraph  lines,  of  schoolbook  publish- 
ing houses,  is  not  yet  desirable.  We  have  had  a taste  of  Government  ownership  right 
here  in  Cincinnati  for  several  weeks,  and  the  flavor  has  not  yet  gone  from  our  mouths. 
Our  water-works  have  been  run  by  an  arm  of  the  GovernmenI,  and  have  had  so  much 
politics  mixed  in  them  that  screws  have  twisted  themselves  from  bolts,  and  steel  cast- 
ings have  warped  until  the  horrors  of  a water  famine  for  several  days  stared  the 
people  of  this  city  in  the  face. 

The  people  of  this  country  must  wait  until  it  has  been  thoroughly  demonstrated  that 
politics  will  not  steathily  and  inevitably  creep  in  and  take  the  place  of  business 
management,  before  the  Government  is  intrusted  with  the  control  of  interests  which 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


127- 


so  closely  concern  their  weal  or  woe.  Interests  which  are  now  kept  alive  by  the  ut- 
most efforts  of  the  best  business  talents  that  can  be  bought  will  not  be  apt  to  thrive 
under  the  indifferent  management  of  men  whose  best  recommendation  is  that  they 
can  make  a good  stump  speech,  are  good  hand  shakers,  or  control  a certain  number 
of  votes  in  their  ward. 


[Franklin  Falls  (N.  H.)  Journal,  May  30.] 

The  Wanamaker  proposition  on  telegraph  rates  and  systems  seems  to  he  worsted 
Dr  Greenes  testimony  shows  that  the  rates  for  telegraphing  have  been  reduced  as 
last  as  possible.  It  also  appears  that  the  proposed  postal  telegraph  scheme  is  backed 
by  interested  parties  who  can  not  raise  the  capital  to  put  such  enterprises  throueh 
pthout  Government  aid.  The  Government  has  quite  enough  to  do  without  publish- 
ing school  books  or  Bibles,  or  taking  charge  of  the  telegraph,  telephone,  express  and 
railroad  companies.  Private  enterprise  will  always  manage  these  lines  of  business 
better  than  the  Government,  which  has  enough  trouble  with  Indian  agencies,  consuls 
and  other  public  officers.  ’ ' 


[Lancaster  (N.  H.)  New  Era,  May  31.] 

Although  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  is  an  ardent  advocate  of  a postal  tele- 
graph service,  and  has  tried  to  secure  a partial  one  at  least,  all  hope  that  one  will  be 
passed  during  the  present  session  of  Congress  seems  to  have  vanished.  It  will  cost  a 
^rge  amount  of  money  y many  Republicans  will  oppose  it  for  that  reason.  The 
Democmts  are  opposed  to  it  because  it  will  increase  the  number  of  office  holders.  It 
would  be  likely  to  prove  a costly  experiment. 


[St.  Louis  Repiiblic,  June  4,] 

In  the  June  Forum  Mr.  Bronson  C.  Keeler  discusses  the  subject  of  Government 
control  of  telegraphs,  and  endeavors  to  prove  that  such  control  is  advisable  and 
necessary.  His  own  figures,  however,  show  that  Great  Britain,  whose  example  he 
would  have  us  follow,  m assuming  the  telegraph  lines  paid  for  them  an  average  of 
more  than  $416  per  mile,  being  $350  per  mile  more  than  they  cost  to  build  The  in- 
• ^ purchase  money  in  nineteen  years  has  been  £5,800,000,  and  the  present 

indebtedness  of  the  department  is  about  $50,000,000— nearly  double  the  original  in- 
debtedness. From  the  economical  stand-point,  therefore,  the  change  has  proved  far 
Irom  an  unqualified  success.  Yet  when  this  purchase  was  made,  nineteen  years  ago 
the  telegraph  business  may  be  said  to  have  been  almost  in  its  infancy.  The  British 
Government  had  only  to  buy  up  the  franchises  of  six  comparatively  small  companies 
Bad  as  the  bargain  was  they  made,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment  , could  do  better,  while  the  probability  would  be  that  it  would  be  let  in  for  a 
generation?^^*^^^^  Proportions,  which  would  be  an  incubus  on  the  tax-payers  for 

But,  in  addition  to  its  failure  as  an  economic  scheme,  the  government  control  of 
telegraphs  in  England  has  created  a horde  of  government  underlings  whose  liberties 
are  restricted  to  an  extent  unknown  among  the  employes  of  private  concerns.  The 
cable  now  and  then  brings  lis  hints  of  the  grievances  of  this  class  of  workers.  *A  case 
in  point  is  that  of  the  telegraph  clerks  at  Cardiff,  Wales.  For  three  years  they  had 
appeale-d  to  headquarters,  representing  that  the  staff  at  that  point  was  entirely  in- 
adequate tor  the  work,  the  office  “not  fit  for  pigs  to  live  in,  ” and  delays  of  nearly 
two  bours  often  occurred,  especially  on  press  work,  owing  to  their  harasW  and  over- 
TrW  a earnest  and  respectful  appeals  proving  unsuccessful,  they 
adopted  the  method  of  wiring  their  grievances  before  the  public  in  a series  of  letters 
to  the  Western  Mail— a course  which  every  native  of  Great  Britain  considers  his 
prerogative.  The  Postmaster-General  immediately  took  steps  to  punish  these  “ kick- 
ers,  who  objected  to  overwork  in  pig-sty  quarters.  As  the  authorship  of  the  letters 
could  not  be  proved  against  any  one  of  them,  a number  of  the  clerks  were  put  on 
overtime,  while  eight  were  transferred  to  second-class  posts,  where  their  opportuni- 
ties for  promotion  were  cut  off.  Their  places  were  filled  by  juniors;  they  were  re 
quired  to  move  at  12  hours’  notice  ; their  homes  broken  up,  and  they  felt  themselves 
disgraced  and  punished  for  what  was  really  no  offense. 

If  abuses  such  as  this  occur  in  a country  so  small  as  Britain  and  with  a compara- 
tiveG  small  telegraph  system,  they  would  be  more  liable  to  happen  unnoticed  and  un- 
cbecked  in  a system  so  great  and  growing  so  rapidly  as  ours.  We  might  well  look 
tor  a reproduction  of  almost  Russian  meddlesomeness  and  tyranny  when  it  was  too 
late  to  prevent  it. 


128 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Toledo  Commercial,  Juoe  7.] 

Forum  for  June  contains  an  article  advocating  Govermnental  control  of  the  tele- 
graph, the  argument  being  based  on  comparison  of  prices  for  telegraphic  service  in 
the  United  States  compared  with  the  prices  ruling  in  countries  where  the  telegraph 
lines  are  under  the  management  of  the  Government.  Like  other  special  pleas  there 
is  much  truth  in  the  article,  the  chief  defect  being  in  what  is  not  considered.  To 
place  the  cost  of  service  in  one  country  in  comparison  with  the  cost  of  service  in  an- 
other country,  estimated  simply  in  money,  may  be  right  or  it  may  be  very  misleading, 
according  to  circumstances.  In  a country  in  which  the  laborer  is  well  paid  when  he' 
gets  50  cents  per  day,  wJiere  the  price  of  materials  is  far  less  than  what  it  is  in  this 
country,  the  same  price  for  telegraphic  service,  or  any  other,  to  be  equal  in  fact 
should  be  as  much  less  in  the  cheap  country  as  the  general  range  of  jirices  is  lower. 
Unless  considerations  of  that  kind  ari;  regarded,  comparisons  of  prices  may  be  very 
misleading  an<l  this  we  think  has  been  done  in  the  article  referred  to.  It  is  never- 
theless gratifying  to  know  that  over  50  per  cent,  of  the  telegraph  lines  in  the  world 
are  constructed  in  the  United  States,  although  the  population  is  not  nearly  50  per 
cent,  of  that  inhabiting  the  countries  which  have  assumed  governmental  control  of 
the  service.  When  the  magnitude  of  the  service  from  that  broad  stand-point  is  viewed 
the  query  must  arise  in  the  minds  of  conservative  men  whether  it  be  safe  to  intrust 
such  a gigantic  bure  ui  in  the  hands  of  politicians  as  30  per  cent,  of  the  telegraphic 
facilities  of  the  whole  world  ? Charges  of  selhshness  and  disregard  of  the  public  con- 
venience have  been  made  against  the  telegraph  companies  in  this  country  for  more 
than  twenty  years,  the  higher  rate  for  messages  has  been  a constant  accusation  by 
those  Socialists  who  persistently  endeavor  to  centralize  power  in  the  hands  of  the' 
Government  under  the  mistaken  notion  that  the  Government  and  the  jieopfe  are  one. 

The  arguments  have  been  of  the  same  nature  as  those  urged  for  the  governmental 
assumption  of  power  for  many  years,  but  the  facts  are  that  the  United  States  has  asi 
efficient  and  satisfactory  telegr  phic  service  s any  nation  of  no  greater  density  of  , 
population  and  as  cheap  as  any  in  comparison  with  the  competitive  plane  of  general'' 
prices  for  commodities  and  services.  Even  were  it  otherwise,  and  all  the  charges 
were  true,  that  the  companies  are  monopolies,  that  they  do  not  push  their  service  into 
unprofitable  localities,  that  their  prices  are  high  in  comparison  with  the  actual  cost^ 
to  them  of  the  service,  is  there  anything  in  all  these  that  should  lead  the  [iractical 
intelligence  of  this  age  under  a republican  form  of  government  into  the  forms  of 
socialism  which  arise  in  monarchies  in  an  effort  to  play  the  government  as  a commer- 
cial enterprise  as  an  offset  to  its  political  tyranny  ? The  commercial  or  business  man 
will  see  it  to  be  reasonable  under  a republican  form  of  government  which  is  based  , 
upon  the  acknowledgment,  in  the  broadest  sense,  of  the  manhood,  intelligence,  con- 
science, and  general  social  competency  of  the  citizen,  that  he  should  bo  tree  froin( 
governmental  leading  strings  in  commercial  affairs.  There  is  wide  distinction  be-  , 
tween  forms  of  government  in  this  resj^ect  which  the  socialistic  authors  fail  to  dilate'* 
upon.  Governmental  interference  in  a nionarchy  is  more  in  accordance  with  the  fitness 
of  things  than  in  a republic,  where  individual  self-government  is  the  basis  of  all  civil 
organisms.  Considering  all  governments  and  all  prices  as  practically  the  same,  be- 
cause they  may  be  expressed  in  like  terms,  is  a grave  error  into  which  the  writer  in  ' 
the  Forum  fell. 


[Montgomery  (Ala.)  Advertiser,  June  11.] 

Among  other  propositions  to  which  the  assent  of  candidates  for  Congress  is  de- 
manded in  some  instances,  is  that  of  purchase  and  operation  by  the  Government  of 
the  railroads  and  telegraphs  of  this  country.  It  ought  to  be  entitled,  ‘‘A  proposition 
to  perpetuate  in  power  the  Republican  pai;ty.”  It  would  require  a debt  to  be  created 
greater  by  double  than  the  present  national  debt,  and  the  exactions  upon  the  people 
now  are  as  great  as  they  can  well  bear  up  under.  With  the  additional  load  upon 
them,  the  spirit  of  discontent  would  grow  in  intensity. 

The  political  features  of  the  question  are  simply  appalling.  The  Republican  party, 
if  such  a law  should  be  enacted  during  the  Harrison  administration,  would  never  lie 
dislodged  from  power.  That  party  is  odious  enough  now  to  the  people,  but  it  would 
be  immensely  more  so  when  the  appointing  of  half  a million  additional  office-holders 
was  given  to  such  men  as  are  at  tlie  head  of  this  Government.  Quay,  Dudley  & Company 
would  fairly  revel  in  delight,  and  nothing  would  be  done  except  from  a purely  party 
stand-point.  We  should  like  to  know  how  our  good  friends  at  Evergreen,  Biewton, 
Greenville,  and  other  points  would  fancy  negro  depot  agents,  negro  porters,  and  negro 
brakemen,  yet  there  are  men  in  thisdistrict  who  favor  displacing  Colonel  Herbert  with 
some  other  man  in  Congress,  unless  he  will  favor  a measure  which  will  result  in  such 
a.  state  of  afi'airs  if  it  is  enacted  into  law. 

The  same  remarks  apjily  with  equal  force  to  Government  ownership  and  control  of 
the  telegraph  lines.  Every  man  connected  with  them  would  be  a Republican  partisan. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


129 


The  ownership  of  property  by  the  Government  is  undemocratic  and  only  to  be  tol- 
erated when  there  is  actual  necessity  for  it,  as  in  the  case  of  custom-houses,  post-ofihces, 
court  buildings,  etc.  The  idea  of  ownership  of  property  involving  a standing  army 
I of  appointees  will  not  do  for  free  America.  It  is  pre-eminently  an  idea  borrowed  from 
mouarchial  countries.  The  proposition  is  one  of  the  most  dangerous  ever  made,  and 
its  natural  result  would  be  a standing  army  of  officeholders  more  dangerous  to  the 
liberties  of  the  country  than  a standing  army  of  soldiers. 

[Oshkosh  Times,  June  14.] 

One  of  the  remarkable  features  of  the  legislative  programme  of  some  of  the  move- 
ments alleged  to  be  organized  in  the  interest  of  the  farmers  of  the  United  States  is 
the  proposition  that  the  Government  shall  acquire  the  ownership  of  the  various  tele- 
graph systems  of  the  country  and  undt^rtake  to  carry  on  the  telegraph  service  as  a 
branch  of  the  post-office,  says  the  Washington  Democrat.  It  is  argued  that  the  tele- 
graph service  should  be  extended  to  every  village  in  the  country  and  that  the  farm- 
ers should  have  the  same  facilities  for  using  it  that  the  mercantile  classes  now  enjoy. 
It  is  proposed  to  greatly  reduce  the  rates  whicn  are  now  paid  by  the  patrons  of  the 
telegraph  and  thereby  to  encourage  those  who  already  employ  it  to  use  it  more  freely 
than  they  now  do. 

The  people  who  use  the  telegraph  ought  to  pay  for  it,  and  that  the  proposed  postal 
telegraph  scheme  would  settle  upon  the  non-users  of  the  telegraph  a large  part  of  the 
expense  of  the  service,  itrwe  believe  easily  demonstrable.  Not  one  citizen  in  ten  has 
frequent, occasion  to  employ  the  telegraph,  nor  would  the  case  be  different  if  the  rates 
were  reduced  to  less  than  half  what  they  are  now,  and  this  could  not  be  done  with- 
out requiring  a large  appropriation  of  the  peoj)le’8  money  to  make  up  the  inevitable 
deficit. 

But  there  is  another  reason  why  everybody  ought  to  oppose  the  transfer  of  the 
telegraph  service  to  the  Post-Office  Department.  Suppose  that  in  1888  Mr.  Quay  had 
been  able  to  offer  the  contract  of  the  telegraph  service  of  the  country,  with  its  vast 
patronage,  as  one  of  the  prizes  of  the  campaign.  How  much  more  easily  he  could 
have  raised  money  for  hiring  the  ^‘tloaters’’  in  the  doubtful  States  to  vote  for  Har- 
rison. To  be  sure  he  had  enough.  But  next  time  he  may  not  have,  unless  the  peo- 
ple turn  over  the  telegraph  service  .as  a fresh  prize  to  bo  scrambled  for  and  gambled 
for  in  the  great  game  of  national  politics. 

The  Democratic  idea  is  and  will  continue  to  be  to  keep  the  telegraph  service  sep- 
arate from  the  Government.  The  big  Western  Union  corporation  may  be  a Republi- 
can corporation,  but  it  isn’t  half  so  valuable  to  the  Republican  party  now  as  it  would 
be  if  its  business  was  turned  over  to  Wanamaker  and  Quay. 

[Newark  (N.  J.)  News,  June  19.] 

Dr.  Norvin  Green,  president  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  makes  a 
powerful  argument  against  the  Postal  Telegraph  bill,  introduced  at  the  suggestion  of 
the  Postmaster-General,  and  he  does  not  scruple  to  insinuate,  in  pretty  plain  terras, 
that  something  differing  widely  from  the  interests  of  the  public  is  at  the  back  of  the 
scheme. 

Dr.  Green  neatly  disposes  of  the  argument  that  European  Governments  control  tel- 
egraph lines  by  showing  that  the  peculiar  ruling  systems  there,  and  the  dangers  by 
which  these  Governments  are  surrounded,  compel  the  ceaseless  vigilance  of  espionage 
and  censorship  alike  of  messages  and  of  the  movements  of  the  people.  No  such  con- 
ditions exist  heivq  and  the  placing  of  such  powers  of  espionage  and  censorship  in  the 
hands  of  the  dominant  political  party  for  the  time  being  would  be  clearly  an  outrage 
on  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  j)eople. 

Then,  again.  Dr.  Green  says:  “ If  the  Government  must  have  a telegraph  as  part 
of  the  postal  service,  why  not  take  existing  properties  rather  than  create  a new  com- 
pany, backed  by  the  pow^^r  and  support  of  the  Government,  to  damage  and  destroy 
the  old  ones?”  Why  not,  indeed?  Dr.  Green  adds  in  conclusion:  “The  bill  is  a 
huge  job  to  foster  and  build  up  a new  company  which  will  alone  be  entitled  to  the 
Government  contract  and  support.” 

[Milwaukee  Journal,  June  21.] 

If  the  po.st-office  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  never  do  another 
praiseworthy  act  they  should  always  be  held  in  grateful  remembrance  by  the  Ameri- 
can people  for  their  sensible  work  on  the  Wanamaker  scheme  of  a Government  postal 
telegraph  in  burying  it  from  their  sight.  The  committee  has  examined  the  matter 
very  closely,  and  no  doubt  would  have  been  glad  to  reach  a different  conclusion  if 
there  had  been  any  popul  irity  to  gain  by  it,  but  full  investigation,  as  the  committee 
declare,  shows  that  there  is  no  popular  demand  for  postal  telegraphy.  The  testimony 

P T 9 


130 


POSTAL  TELEGEAPH  FACILITIES. 


taken  by  the  committee  has  shown  that  nobody  wants  a postal  telegraph  except  a 
few  politicians  who  seek  a hobby  upon  which  to  ride  into  notoriety  and  au  occasional 
enthusiast  here  and  there  who  would  have  the  Government  own  everything  and  pro- 
vide little  work  with  big  pay  for  everybody,  a la  Edward  Bellamy.  The  majority  of ; 
the  people  believe  that  the  Government  has  enough  to  do  in  its  present  sphere,  and 
that  whenever  the  Utopian  schemes  of  public  ownership  of  transportation  linea 
should  be  adopted  we  would  inevitably  drift  into  a despotism  where  it  would  be  ab- 
solutely impossible  to  dispossess  the  party  in  power,  no  matter  how  it  might  rido 
over  the  rights  of  the  people.  They  also  know  that  public  employment  never  brings 
out  a man’s  energy  as  private  employment  does,  and  that  the  only  hard  work  he 
does  as  a rule  is  to  hang  on  to  his  place.  Mr.  Wanamaker  may  as  well  abandon  his 
scheme  of  postal  telegraphy  until  the  year  2,000  or  thereabouts,  as  it  will  not  fit  into> 
this  age  of  the  world. 


f Utica  Observer,  July  1.] 

Concerning  the  question  of  Government  telegraphy  there  are  many  arguments  pro: 
and  con.  No  doubt  there  are  many  intelligent  citizens  who  believe  that  the  control 
of  the  telegraphic  service  by  the  Government  would  yield  substantial  benefits  to  the 
people  at  large.  Among  the  foremost  advocates  of  this  plan  is  Postmaster-General 
Wanamaker,  who  expressed  his  views  in  favor  of  it  in  his  first  annual  report.  It  is 
a subject,  however,  upon  which  the  average  citizen  will  bear  enlightenment.  One  of 
the  most  instructive  articles  that  have  yet  appeared  upon  this  topic  is  that  of  Bron- 
son C.  Keeler,  of  St.  Louis,  in  the  July  Forum.  He  is  a champion  of  Government 
telegraphy,  and  in  support  of  his  proposition  he  presents  many  valuable  facts  relat- 
ing to  the  experience  of  other  countries.  These  are  well  worthy  of  repetition  and 
examination. 

It  is  perhaps  not  generally  known  that  this  is  the  only  country  in  the  world  in 
which  the  telegraphic  service  is  conducted  by  private  enterprise.  Aside  from  the 
United  States,  Mr.  Keeler  informs  us,  88  per  cent,  of  all  the  telegraphic  lines  are  1 
under  public  control.  What  we  are  chiefly  interested  in  knowing  is  the  efiect  Gov- 
ernment control  would  have  upon  the  rates.  According  to  Mr.  Keeler’s  figures, 
the  rate  in  Germany  is  1.4  cents  per  word.  In  the  United  Kingdom  six  pence 
for  twelve  words.  Iti  Switzerland  one-half  cent  per  word.  In  New  Zealand  from 
six  pence  to  two  shillings  for  ten  words,  according  to  urgency.  Here  the  price  is  from 
25  cents  to  $l  for  ten  words,  according  to  distance.  But  notwithstanding  our  greater  i 
distances  the  average  charge  for  each  message  is  31  cents  here  as  against  32  cents  in 
Germany.  Denmark,  Switzerland,  Belgium  and  Great  Britain  are  the  only  European 
countries  in  which  the  average  tolls  are  conspicuously  less  than  here.  Switzerland 
makes  the  best  showing  of  all  the  foreign  countries  in  this  regard. 

When  Great  Britain  bought  out  the  telegraph  companies  in  1868,  the  average  rates  • 
charged  were  from  24  cents  to  48  cents  per  message  of  twenty  words.  This  was  re-^* 
duced  to  24  cents  for  the  whole  United  Kingdom.  Under  this  arrangement  the  profit  ] 
for  twenty  years  has  aggregated  $12,000,000.  But  during  the  same  years  the  interest  I 
on  the  investment  has  amounted  to  $29,000,000,  making  the  net  loss  to  the  English  * 
tax-payers  $17,000,000.  The  English  telegraphic  department,  however,  has  in  the 
meantime  extended  its  business  fourfold  and  its  plant  nearly  three-fold. 

A comparison  of  the  figures  bearing  on  the  case  shows  that  the  amount  paid  by  the 
British  Government  on  its  telegraphic  plant  has  been  greater  proportionately  than 
the  people  of  the  United  States  have  paid  to  the  Western  Union  Company.  But  Mr. 
Keeler  seeks  to  destroy  the  force  of  this  contrast  by  showing  that  when  it  pnrchased 
its  telegraphic  system  the  British  Government  was  victimized  in  the  price  paid.  He 
says  that  it  paid  $32,000,000  for  77,000  miles  of  wire,  which  had  cost  the  companies 
but  $11,000,000,  and  could  have  been  duplicated  for  $8,000,000.  In  France  the  tele- 
graphic lines  cost  only  one-sixth  as  much  per  line.  To  prove  that  Great  Britain  was 
swindled,  it  is  related  that  the  shares  in  one  of  the  companies  that  sold  out  rose  from 
132  in  November,  1867,  when  Government  purchase  was  first  proposed,  to  255,  whon 
it  was  consummated.  In  another  company  the  shares  rose  from  30  to  133.  In  his  argu- 
ment Mr.  Keeler  contends  that  the  United  States  could  avoid  the  mistakes  of  Great 
Britain.  But  it  is  asserted  by  the  opponents  of  Government  telegraphy  that  the 
English  people  with  36,000  miles  of  lines  and  6,500  officers  are  paying  interest  upon  a 
capitalization  of  $50,000,000  ; the  American  people  with  171,000  miles  of  wire  and 
1,700  offices  are  paying  dividends  upon  a capitalization  of  $100,000,000.  This  is  a de- 
cidedly good  relative  showing  for  the  United  States. 

Those  facts,  as  we  have  said,  are  worthy  of  examination.  But  we  should  always 
keep  in  mind  the  fundamental  and  unanswerable  objections  to  Government  control 
of  the  telegraphic  lines.  First  of  all,  it  would  add  considerably  to  the  office-holding 
class,  and  further  complicate  the  operation  of  Federal  government.  One  great  party, 
at  least,  is  irrevocably  opposed  to  it  on  this  ground.  Secondly,  the  benefits  of  a Gov- 
ernment telegraph  service  would  be  enjoyed  by  a comparatively  few,  as  the  masses 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


131 


rarely  have  occasion  to  send  messages  by  wire.  These  two  objections  are  serious 
ones,  and  until  they  are  answered  it  is  not  likely  that  the  movement  for  Federal 
control  will  reach  the  proportions  of  a popular  demand. 

[Clinton  (111.)  Public,  July  4.] 

Every  Postmas'er-General  has  some  fad  which  he  desires  to  popularize  in  connec- 
tion with  his  administration  of  the  postal  department.  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  hobby 
is  the  postal- telegraph  service,  and  he  would  not  be  opposed  to  the  adoption  of 
1-cent  letter  postage.  The  people  at  large  are  not  clamoring  for  the  postal-telegraph 
system,  for  but  comparatively  few  iti  number  wouM  be  benefited  by  it.  That  the 
telegraph  sysem  of  this  country  is  a great  monopoly  no  one  can  deny,  and  because  of 
its  extortionate  charges  the  wires  are  not  used  by  the  common  people  except  in  the 
most  extreme  cases.  The  telegraph  is  more  of  a luxury  than  a necessity,  and  for 
that  reason  it  is  mainly  used  by  those  who  are  able  to  pay  for  its  use  or  by  those 
who  are  fortunate  enough  to  have  a ‘‘dead-head”  privilege.  There  is  a deal  of 
cheap  balderdash  expended  in  argument  why  the  Government  should  own  and  con- 
trol the  telegraph  lines,  but  we  fail  to  find  anything  that  would  convince  a farmer 
or  people  living  outside  of  the  large  commercial  centers  that  there  is  any  urgent 
need  why  the  Government  should  expend  millions  of  dollars  for  the  benefit  of  the 
comparative  few. 

A postal-telegraph  system  would  add  thousands  of  names  to  the  rolls  of  Govern- 
ment employes,  and  at  every  election  there  would  be  so  many  offices  to  fight  over. 
If  the  Government  goes  into  the  business  of  furnishing  cheaper  telegraphy,  why 
should  it  not  take  charge  of  the  railways  and  express  companies  and  the  manufact- 
ories, and  finally  get  down  to  running  the  mercantile  business  in  every  cross-road 
store  in  the  country  ? Our  paternal  government  now  furnishes  every  man  who 
wants  them  with  printed  envelopes,  and  thus  robs  the  printers  of  the  country  of  a 
portion  of  their  legitimate  business. 

Why  not  the  Government  take  charge  of  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  great  clothing  business, 
and  thus  furnish  cheaper  clothing  to  the  million?  It  would  be  just  as  legitimate  as 
furnishing  printed  envelopes  or  cheap  postal  telegrams  and  a deal  more  profitable  to 
the  pockets  of  the  people.  Everybody  must  wear  clothes,  but  few  have  any  use  for 
the  telegraph.  The  less  the  Government  has  to  do  in  managing  the  business  enter- 
prises of  the  country  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  people.  The  mail  service  is  a public 
necesi-ity  that  could  not  be  handled  so  cheaply  or  safely  by  any  private  corporation, 
therefore  the  necessity  of  governmental  control;  but  there  is  no  sense  in  cutting  down 
the  revenue  lo  the  !-cent  rate.  The  poor  would  receive  but  little  benefit,  while 
the  cheaper  rate  would  only  add  to  the  wealth  of  those  who  are  largely  benefited  by 
the  postal  service.  No  one  can  certainly  complain  of  excessive  charges  when  a letter 
weighing  one  ounce  is  carried  from  one  end  of  this  country  to  the  other  for  the  insig- 
nificant sum  of  two  cents.  There  are  other  and  more  important  reforms  to  which  the 
Government  can  give  attention.  The  people  are  not  sufiering  for  cheaper  telegraph 
or  postal  service. 

[San  Antonio  (Tex.)  Express,  July  8.] 

England  has  a postal-telegraph  system.  Every  operator  is  an  official.  The  cost  of 
it  and  the  poor  service  rendered  can  be  estimated  by  the  fact  that  employes  are  going 
out  in  dozens  because  they  are  not  paid  living  wages.  Government  ownership  of  tel- 
egraphs and  railways  in  the  United  States  would  result  in  about  the  same  thing  on  a 
larger  scale.  It  is  true  that  the  Western  ynion  makes  money;  but  it  is  also  true  that 
in  proportion  to  the  distance  covered  it  is  the  cheapest  service  in  the  world,  and  it 
is  far  and  away  the  best  service  in  the  world. 

[Ottawa  (111.)  Journal,  July  17.] 

The  bill  prepared  by  Postmaster- General  Wanamaker  to  establish  a limited  postal- 
telegraph  service  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  yesterday  by  Senator  Sawyer,  of 
Wisconsin.  As  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  is  now  constituted  there  is  no  pos- 
sibility that  a bill  will  ever  be  passed  to  improve  the  service  or  cheapen  the  rates. 
This  bill  does  not  contemplate  the  one  nor  the  other.  It  simply  provides  for  the 
leasing  of  a few  wires  from  the  Western  Union  between  important  cities  and  the 
transaction  of  purely  Government  business  at  a low  rate.  A queer  postal  telegraph 
that! 

[Scranton  (Pa.)  Times,  July  21.] 

The  United  States  Senate  has  the  reputation  of  favoring  anything  that  helps  mo- 
nopoly, and  anything  that  interferes  with  its  progress  stands  a poor  show  of  ever 
passing  that  body.  This  branch  of  our  legislative  government  will  soon  have  an 
opportunity  to  give  the  lie  to  the  reports  referred  to.  Congre-sman  Sawyer,  of  Wis- 


132 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


consin,  has  withdrawn  the  postal-telegraph  bill  from  the  pigeon-hole  which  has  pro- 
tected it  for  months  past,  and  it  has  made  its  appearance  before  that  branch  of  Con- 
gress. Mr.  Sawyer  is  the  chairman  of  the  Senate  Post-Office  Committee,  and  since  he 
has  brought  it  forth  it  is  fair  to  presume  he  will  stand  by  it.  Congressman  Bingham, 
of  this  State,  first  introduced  the  bill  in  the  House,  not  because  he  favored  it,  but : 
because  his  friend,  Postmaster-General  Wanaraaker,  asked  him  to.  Now  that  the 
bill  is  fairly  before  the  Senate  let  us  watch  closely  and  see  what  that  august  body 
will  do  with  it.  Of  course  everybody  knows  that  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  i 
Company  isn’t  in  favor  of  it. 

[Yankton  (S.  Dak.)  Press,  July  31.]  i 

John  Wanamaker  has  received  the  unqualified  indorsement  of  the  State  Republican 
convention  of  Nebraska  for  his  Government  postal-telegraph  scheme.  This  will  i 
please  Mr.  Wanamaker  and  may  encourage  him  to  recommend  the  nationalizing  of  ' 
railroads  and  the  express  carrying  business. 

[Atlanta  (Ga.)  Journal,  August  2,]  ’ 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  has  stricken  out  of  the  postal- ; 
telegraph  bill  the  section  prohibiting  any  telegraph  company  which  contracts  for  i 
the  postal  service  from  giving  special  rates  to  newspaper  associations  or  clubs  tak- 
ing market  reports.  What  is  this  but  countenancing  monopolies? 

[Chicago  (111.)  Tribune,  August  5.J 

The  Farmers’  Alliance  of  Nebraska  has  held  a State  convention,  has  nominated  a 
ticket,  and  has  adopted  a platform  which  contains  several  of  those  wild  ideas  which 
are  having  such  a go  just  now,  and  which  the  demagogues  are  telling  the  farmers  will 
be  a sure  cure  for  the  evils  that  afflict  them. 

One  is  that  “the  General  Government  shall  own  and  operate  the  railroads  and' 
telegraph  and  furnish  transportation  at  cost,  the  same  as  mail  facilities  are  now 
furnished.”  How  did  it  happen  that  there  was  not  in  this  convention  one  man 
bright  enough  to  ask  the  committee  which  drafted  this  resolution  how  the  Govern- 
ment was  to  get  possession  of  the  roads.  There  are  but  three  ways  in  which  it  can 
be  done — by  the  owners  of  the  roads  making  a free  gift  of  them,  which  is  not  prob- 
able, by  the  Government  confiscating  them,  or  by  its  buying  them  with  or  without  ' 
the  consent  of  the  owners. 

Confiscation  may  as  well  be  put  out  of  the  question.  It  is  against  the  morality  of 
the  age.  When  it  came  to  the  pinch  the  farmer  would  no  more  rob  a man  of  his  rail- 
road than  he  would  of  his  horse  or  his  wagou.  The  roads  must  be  bought,  therefore, 
and  a fair  price  be  paid  for  them.  Whatever  that  price  may  be  the  Government  i 
would  have  to  assume  the  present  bonded  debt  of  the  roads  of  ^4,500,000,000  and^^ 
pay  the  interest  on  it — which  the  roads  do  not  always  do.  ' 

So  when  the  convention  speaks  of  furnishing  transportation  at  cost  it  must  mean 
that  the  Government  is  to  charge  enough  to  pay  the  interest  on  these  bonds  it  has 
become  responsible  for,  and  also  on  the  capital,  which  may  be  as  many  millions  more,  'I 
which  it  has  sunk  in  the  purchase  of  the  roads.  But  if  it  means  that  every  man  is  to 
have  his  products  transported  for  what  it  will  cost  to  do  it,  leaving  out  these  items,  I 
then  the  expenses  of  the  roads  will  have  to  be  defrayed  in  good  part  by  general  tax-  i 
ation,  and  those  who  are  not  shippers  will  prote.st  against  something  which  will  be  i 
80  unjust  to  them.  If  the  Government  did  not  run  the  roads  as  economically  and  effi-  t 
ciently  as  the  present  owners  the  Nebraska  farmer  might  find  his  bills  for  transporta- 
tion quite  as  grievous  as  they  are  now. 

Another  demand  of  the  convention  was  that  our  financial  system  should  be  reformed  i 
by  the  restoration  of  silver  to  its  old-time  place  in  the  currency  and  its  free  and  un-  c 
limited  coinage  on  an  equality  with  gold  and  by  the  increase  of  the  money  circula- 
tion  until  it  reaches  $50  per  capita,  and  that  all  [)aper  issues  necessary  to  secure  that  i 
amount  should  be  made  by  the  Government  alone  and  be  full  legal  tender  for  all  debts,  1 
public  and  private. 

This  means  simply  an  overwhelming  flood  of  paper  money.  The  present  circula- 
tion is  about  $1,420,000,000,  and  its  proper  increase  is  provided  for  by  existing  laws. 
The  circulation  asked  for  by  the  farmers  would  be  $3,225,000,000,  or  nearly  three 
times  the  present  quantity.  If  the  entire  silver  product  of  the  world  were  bought 
and  coined  by  the  United  States  it  would  take  thirteen  years  to  make  up  the  $50  per 
capita  on  the  basis  of  the  population  of  to-day.  But  that  is  not  what  the  farmers 
a^e  driving  at.  They  think  that  if  there  were  more  currency  in  the  country,  whether 
“fiat”  or  not,  they  would  have  more;  that  if  there  were  more  there  would  be  a 
better  demand  for  their  crops,  and  that  men  who  are  not  purchasers  now  would  be- 
come so  merely  because  of  an  expansion  of  the  currency.  Such  would  not  be  the 
case,  however,  and  the  farmers’  condition  would  not  be  "bettered.  If  the  currency 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


13a 


were  in  excess  of  the  legitimate  demands  of  trade  it  would  drop  out  of  circulation  as 
the  silver  of  France  has  done.  If  the  contemplated  inflation  were  in  inconvertible 
paper,  which  is  probably  what  the  farmers  want,  silver  and  gold  would  disappear. 
The  prices  of  their  products  would  go  up,  but  what  they  bought  would  be  propor- 
tionately dearer.  There  would  be  a seeming  prosperity,  followed  by  wild  specula- 
tion, and  then  a disastrous  smash. 

[Chicago  (111.)  Press,  Augusts.] 

The  senate  post-office  committee  has  reported  a bill  providing  a postal-telegrapL 
system.  A bill  for  1-cent  letter  postage  would  be  far  more  popular.  Not  one  person 
in  a thousand  sends  or  receives  a telegram  once  a year;  but  everybody  is  constantly- 
writing  and  receiving  letters. 

I 

I . [Lancaster  (Pa.)  New  Era,  August  22.] 

I Those  who  are  so  anxious  that  the  American  Government  shall  take  charge  of  the 
itelegraph  service  of  the  country  and  run  it  as  a regular  department  of  the  Govern- 
ment will  do  well  to  consult  the  facts  which  are  developed  by  Great  Britain’s  owner- 
ship of  the  telegraph  lines  in  that  country.  In  the  first  place,  the  original  cost  was 
three  or  four  times  as  great  as  it  was  believed  it  would  be  when  the  project  was  first 
undertaken  by  the  Government.  Since  the  hour  when  the  latter  got  possession  of  the 
I ines,  there  has  been  a steady,  continuous  loss.  Not  for  a single  year  since  January  1 
1872,  has  the  venture  been  a ]iaying  one.  The  interest  on  the  consols  issued  to  meet 
the  purchase  is  onl^^  3 per  cent.,  yet  there  has  been  a deficiency  of  $15,000,000  even  on 
deficiency  was  only  $560,000,  while  in  1886-’87  it  amounted  to 

I It  is  true  most  European  countries  control  their  several  telegraph  lines,  for  reasons 
[that  are  not  quite  as  cogent  with  us  as  with  them.  Should  the  occasion  arise  this, 
pountry  can  at  once  secure  instantaneous  possession  of  all  the  wires  in  the  country 
quite  as  effectively  as  though  it  had  continuous  possession.  That  Government  con- 
trol of  our  telegraph  lines  would  result  far  more  disastrously  in  a financial  sense  in 
ijhis  country  than  the  same  plan  has  done  in  Great  Britain  may  be  asserted  with  th© 
nost  positive  certainty.  In  that  country  more  messages  are  sent  than  here,  and  th© 
imallness  of  the  country  and  the  comparative  shortness  of  the  lines  render  the  keep^ 
ng  of  the  lines  in  a state  of  efficiency  comparatively  cheap  in  comparison  with  th© 
ong  lines  reaching  into  every  corner  of  our  vast  country,  where  the  expense  of  main- 
lenance  is  the  all-important  item. 

It  may  be  taken  for  granted  that  Government  ownership  of  our  telegraph  lines 
ivould  mean  a heavy  drain  on  the  people  for  half  a century  to  come,  if  not  for  alwavs. 

1 0 would  be  hard  for  auy  one  to  give  a good  reason  why  this  voluntary  burden  should 
i)e  assumed  by  the  nation.  The  Government  is  no  more  justified  in  helping  its  citi- 
zens to  pay  part  of  their  telegraphic  correspondence  than  it  is  to  pay  part  of  the  cost 
•I  their  flour  or  coffee.  Every  one  must  admit  that  the  service  is  admirably  admin- 
stered.  In  proportion  to  the  amount  of  business  done  the  errors  are  astonishingly 
ew  ; and  when  they  are  made  recovery  at  law  is  possible.  Neither  are  the  prices  ffir 
ervice  exorbitant.  There  is  little  complaint  from  this  cause.  This  is  a case  wher© 
t IS  best  to  leave  well  enough  alone. 

[Cincinnati  (Ohio)  Post,  Angust  25.] 

The  suggestions  of  Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  that  have  taken  definite  legal 
nape  in  the  introduction  of  a bill  under  which  the  Government  may  assume  control 
I the  transportation  of  mail  and  of  commercial  telegraphing  have  doubtless  given 
great  impetus  to  the  idea  of  Government  control  and  even  ownership  of  railroads* 
nd  the  probabilities  are  that  the  idea  will  grow  into  a more  momentous  and  decided 
jsue  with  every  strike. 

[Florida  Times-Union.] 

It  would  hardly  be  possible  for  the  Government  to  improve  or  to  cheapen  the  presi  nt 
astern  more  rapidly  than  is  now  being  done.  The  people  are  not  crying  for  a postal 
negraph;  when  they  do  demand  it,  or  when  private  enterprise  fails  to  come  up  t© 
heir  every  requirement,  then  it  will  be  high  time  to  make  a howl. 

[Cincinnati  Commercial-Gazette.] 

It  will  be  the  duty  of  Congress  to  touch  the  subject  of  empowering  the  Postmaster- 
eneral  to  enter  into  a contract  to  put  up  Government  wires,  with  extreme  caution — - 
3memberiug  that  there  are  more  telegraph  offices  everywhere  than  there  is  businesa. 


134 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


to  make  them  desirable — that  it  is  not  the  part  of  the  Government  to  help  the  peo- 
ple to  telegraphic  any  more  than  newspaper  facilities — that  the  adoption  of  the 
British  system  would  add  two  millions  a mouth  to  the  postal  deficiency — that  this 
would  be  done  in  behalf  of  less  than  two  per  cent,  of  the  people — tliat  the  great  cus- 
tomers of  the  telegraph  are  the  Wall  street  and  other  gamblers,  the  bucket  shops  and 
pool  shops  and  the  base  ball  betters  and  horse  race  sharps — that  a Government  tele- 
graph would  mean  to  double  our  civil  service  standing  army,  and  the  dangerous  en- 
largement of  the  office  of  the  Government,  in  furnishing  official  news  to  the  people — 
a,  prerogative  and  power  with  which  we  would  never  trust  any  administration. 

Mr.  Gardiner  Hubbard,  whose  anxieties  on  the  subject  of  postal  telegraphy  are  un- 
abated by  the  advance  of  years,  has  from  time  immemorial  been  unable  to  emahci- 
pate  himself  from  the  original  illusion  that  there  is  an  identity  between  the  Western 
Union  Telegraph  Company  and  the  Western  Associated  Press.  If  the  venerable  gen- 
tleman could  fix  in  his  mind  the  fact  that  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Western  Associated  Press,  or  any  style  of  Associated  Press, 
other  than  to  transmit  a certain  number  of  words  at  a fixed  rate  under  a carefully 
drawn  contract,  and  that  the  two  institutions,  owing  to  their  intricate  business  rela- 
tions, have  had  a good  deal  of  friction  in  the  way  of  differences  of  opinion  between 
the  officers  of  the  concerns,  he  wmuld  open  the  gates  of  his  mind  for  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  intelligence  he  needs,  before  he  undertakes  to  enlighten  the  country  about 
the  relations  between  the  press  and  the  telegraph.  It  does  not  seem  to  interfere  with 
the  placidity  of  the  conscience  of  Mr.  Hubbard  to  accept  h*s  share  of  the  profits  from 
the  use  of  the  telephone,  and  he  ought  to  be  able  to  understand  the  rights  of  those 
who  have,  during  many  years,  organized  and  adjusted  the  business  of  the  Associated 
Press,  arranged  a vast  sybtem  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  news,  employed 
hundreds  of  agents,  and  carried  on  a comprehensive  business  requiring  the  most ' 
scrupulous  attention  to  details. 

He  should  not  be  hasty,  not  to  say  vindictive,  in  denouncing  this  press  organization  . 
as  a monopoly.  He  would  probably  contest  the  justice  of  others  coming  in  and  taking 
up  the  telephone  and,  when  they  have  done  nothing  in  the  invention  of  the  instru- 
ment or  the  arrangement  of  its  affairs  so  as  to  make  them  profitable,  sharing  wdth  , 
him  and  others;  but  he  seems  to  regard  it  as  a shocking  circumstance  that  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Associated  Press,  who  have  been  for  thirty  years  building  it  up,  do  not 
invite  everybody  to  partake  with  them  in  the  enjoj^ment  of  its  advantages,  but  require 
to  be  compensated  before  turning  over  to  new  enterprises  the  facilities  that  have  been 
gradually  developed.  The  truth  is  the  Associated  Press  has  dealt  very  liberally  with 
new  applications  for  membership,  and  one  who  is  as  familiar  with  the  value  of  deli-  ■ 
cate  instruments  as  Mr.  Hubbard  may  be  supposed  to  be,  as  he  has  profited  so  largely . 
through  them,  ought  not  to  be  precipitate  in  accepting  responsibility  for  the  utter- ( 
ance  of  accusations,  that  dealing  with  news  as  a commodity  to  be  bought  and  sold,  | 
and  increasing  the  value  of  newspaper  property  through  the  extension  of  its  goodt* 
will,  implies  a grasping  trust  and  a criminal  policy. 

Mr.  Wanamaker,  in  his  notion  of  leasing  wires  and  establishing  a business  over! 
them  in  competition  with  their  owners,  and  going  on  from  that  to  doing  the  tele-' 
graphing  and  furnishing  the  news  officially  to  the  peoide,  has  an  able  helper  in 
Senator  Blair,  who  wants  to  issue  a cheap  edition  of  the  Congressional  Record ! 

This  sort  of  thing  will  not  do,  gentlemen.  Senator  Blair  fills  sixty-four  pages  of 
the  Congressional  Record  on  one  subject,  and  then  complains  that  his  facts  are  not 
placed  before  the  people  by  the  Associated  Press. 

If  the  Senator  can  not  place  his  facts  and  arguments  in  two  thousand  words,  he 
never  in  the  world  will  get  a hearitig,  and  the  Associated  Press  agent  who  loaded 
the  wires  with  his  tediously  detailed  matter  would  be  bounced  at  once.  The  assur- 
ance of  Blair  in  this  matter  is  surprising  and  funny. 

He  and  others  who  go  on  day  after  day  in  the  Senate  filling  the  Record  with  words 
«o  multitudinous  that  it  is  im])Ossible  to  read  them,  should  be  peremptorily  checked. 
That’s  the  point  where  the  interference  of  the  Government  should  come  in. 

The  talk  in  Congress  lacks  interest  because  it  does  not  approach  busin*  ss.  There 
are  not  debates  ; there  are  essays.  And,  frightful  as  it  may  seem  to  Senator  Blair, 
there  is  no  information  in  his  s]>eech.  He  has  not  made  a point  before  the  country, 
because  he  has  not  any.  He  has  shed  no  light.  It  was  not  in  him  to  shed. 

The  peojile  do  not  need  to  be  assured  of  the  importance  of  education.  Let  it  be 
assumed  that  the  jieople  know  something. 

We  do  not  want  a universal  military  compulsion  in  education,  and  a standing  army 
of  school  teachers  and  another  standing  army  of  telegraphers  and  an  official  bureau 
to  look  after  The  newspajiers  and  bulletin  the  news  to  the  ]>eople  officially. 

The  cheap  Congressional  Recoial  ])ublishe<l  with  Blair’s  iiaragraphs  of  sixty-four 
3>age8,  or  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  words,  for  the  dear  people  at  large,  and  i 
telegraph  offices  in  every  iiost-office,  cover  too  much  of  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The 
surplus  that  scared  Cleveland  might  all  be  expended  in  those  enterprises  and  yet  j 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  135 

there  would  be  unhappy  persons  dangling  on  the  ragged  edge  of  civilization  howl- 
ing for  education. 

. Postmaster-General  Wanamaker  does  not  appear  to  have  mastered  the  relations 
between  the  We&tern  Union  Telegraph  and  the  Associated  Press,  or  the  reasons 
why  the  pool- rooms  pay  more  for  telegraphing  than  the  Government.  And  yet  these 
things  may  be  said  to  lie  elementary. 

Why  should  the  Postmaster-General  want  to  force  telegraphy  upon  the  people  at 
large  ? Are  not  the  Americans  going  fast  enough  to  please  him  ? Letters  are  so 
swiftly  carried  as  to  answer  the  social  and  business  purposes  of  ninety-eight  people 
out  of  the  hundred.  Why  insist  upon  hurrying  them  up  ? 


" [New  York  Times.] 

Wall  street  has  a story  which  tells  of  trouble  between  B.  Harrison,  President  of 
these  United  States,  and  J.  Wanamaker,  Postmaster-General  of  the  same.  Jay  Gould 
figures  in  it,  too.  Jay  Gould,  in  sooth,  is  credited  with  having  introduced  the  grim 
ghost  of  war  and  all  that.  Mr.  Gould  has  been  indignant  over  the  scheme  suddenly 
evolved  by  Wanamaker  to  create  a telegraph  company  on  Government  capital  to  com- 
pete with  the  Western  Union  Company. 

The  fact  of  this  indignation  was  some  time  ago  communicated  to  the  head  of  the 
Harrison  Administration.  Not  onlv  this  notice  of  dissatisfiiction  is  said  to  have  been 
served,  but  it  is  declared  that  Mr.  Jay  Gould  caused  it  to  be  made  very  plain  to  his 
friend  Harrison  that  he  felt  that  he  had  been  betrayed;  and  incidentally  it  was  ex- 
plained to  Mr.  Harrison  that  Mr.  Gould  could  be  a pretty  good  fighter  as  well  as  a 
contributing  friend. 

The  result  of  this  frank  statement  from  Mr.  Gould  is  said  to  have  been  that  Presi- 
dent Harrison  one  day  last  week  sent  for  Mr.  Wanamaker  and  gave  him  to  under- 
stand that  he  must  go  slow  with  his  postal-telegraph  scheme. 

According  to  reports  current  in  Wall  street — and  supported  by  good  authority — the 
President  told  his  Postmaster-General  that  he  had  been  entirely  too  rapid  in  his  pos- 
tal-telegraph mov'ements.  ^‘I  made  no  recommendation  in  my  message,”  the  Presi- 
dent is  reported  to  have  said,  “ warranting  you  to  proceed  as  you  have.  The  effect 
of  your  work  is  to  deprive  my  Administration  of  valuable  friends — friends  who  de- 
serve better  treatment  and  are  not  to  be  slighted.  The  friends  you  have  slapped  in 
the  face  were  most  valuable  to  us  in  1888,  and  we  will  need  them  in  1892.  To  attack 
them  is  political  insanity.  There  is  no  need  for  it.  This  whole  postal-telegraph 
scheme  might  just  as  well  be  dropped;  it  never  should  have  been  begun.” 

The  authority  for  this  report  of  the  interview  between  the  Postmaster-General  and 
the  President  is  a Republican  friendly  to  Mr.  Wanamaker,  and  inclined  to  be  indig- 
nant over  what  he  terms  the  unjust  treatment  of  the  Postmaster-General.  It  is  prob- 
able that  he  reflects  Mr.  Wanauiaker’s  personal  feelings.  He  speaks  of  the  Presi- 
dent’s position  as  “ a surrender  to  Jay  Gould,”  who  is  credited  with  having  quietly 
contributed  something  like  $100,000  to  Boss  Quay’s  campaign  funds  in  1888.  Mr.  Gould 
never  gives  money  for  fun. 

[Florida  Times-Union.] 

Wanamaker  got  a set-back  in  the  board  of  trade  yesterday.  His  limited  postal- 
telegraph  project  didn’t  secure  an  indorsement  from  this  quarter.  The  board’s  re- 
fusal to  lend  its  aid  to  the  scheme  for  a further  centralization  of  power  in  the  Na- 
tional Government  and  for  a waste  of  the  public  money  was  very  proper,  too.  If  you 
give  these  fellows  an  inch  they’ll  take  an  ell.  The  next  thing  we  shall  hear  of,  if 
this  measure  prevails  will  be  a bill  to  give  the  Government  full  control  of  the  coal 
and  ice  business  under  the  plea  that  the  people  ought  to  be  warmed  up  more  cheaply 
and  then  cooled  ofl:’  at  less  expense.  And  before  we  know  it  there  won’t  be  any  busi- 
jness  left  for  the  people — to  whom  it  belongs — to  transact.  The  Government  will 
have  scooped  the  whole  box  and  dice.  Let  the  people  alone.  They  can  manage  their 
own  business  best.  This  “fostering”  trick  of  the  Government  is  getting  played  out. 
ilt’s  altogether  too  attenuated  to  catch  the  public  any  longer. 


[Dallas  News.] 

Some  of  the  points  made  by  Dr.  Green  in  his  remarks  before  the  House  Post-Office 
Committee  were  on  the  same  line  as  those  of  a representative  of  the  labor  societies 
recently  referred  to,  but  the  doctor,  having  access  to  all  information  on  the  telegraph 
system  of  this  country,  and  having  made  a study  of  foreign  systems,  is  able  to  present 
comparisons  at  all  points  and  of  such  significance  that  they  will  command  attention 
wherever  the  report  is  read.  The  57,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  who  do  not 
use  the  telegraph  may  be  persuaded  that  they  should  undertake  to  pay  in  taxes 


136 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


enough  to  give  the  stock  speculators  and  sporting  people  messages  at  half  price,  but 
if  so  they  will  exhibit  evidence  of  their  lack  of  business  judgment. 

Government  telegraphy  is  a political  craze  as  far  as  the  United  States  is  concerned, 
for  the  Western  Union’s  rates  are  lower,  distances  and  population  considered,  than 
the  English  rates.  As  for  doing  justice  to  the  country  by  establishing  stations,  the 
telegraph  as  it  stands  compares  favorably  with  the  post-office,  there  being  more  tel- 
egraph offices  than  post-offices  iu  the  entire  country.  Mr.  Wanamaker  has  proposed 
telegraph -postal  service  at  hundreds  of  places  where  the  Government  has  no  post- 
office  buildings.  Mr.  Crain’s  question  was  a searching  one,  viz,  why  did  Dr.  Green 
appear  against  the  bill  if  it  be  impracticable  ? It  transpired  that  the  doctor  appeared 
by  request  of  the  committee.  And  here  it  seems  fair  to  consider  the  usual  course  of 
schemes  iu  which  the  Government  becomes  involved.  Their  projectors  do  not  find  it 
essential  to  arrange  all  parts  for  a complete  and  economical  operation.  Once  enlist 
the  sentiment  of  the  country  and  a measure  which  is  imperfect  can  be  supplemented 
with  other  bills  involving  almost  any  expense.  When  a thoroughly  well  informed 
practical  manager  states  that  Mr.  Wanamaker’s  plan  would  cause  the  Government  a 
loss  of  $3,000,000  a year  he  is  not  to  be  disbelieved  without  some  evidence  to  the  con- 
trary. The  surplus  should  be  expended,  but  not  in  giving  uncalled-for  aid  to  ono 
class  of  communications  to  the  injury  of  a magnificent  private  enterprise  which  has 
given  this  country  more  mileage  of  wire  than  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  has  dem- 
onstrated superior  capacity  in  practically  meeting  demand  and  cheapening  service, 
superior  management  and  promptitude  to  what  the  Government  has  displayed  where 
the  two  services,  that  of  the  corporation  and  the  Government,  can  be  brought  into- 
comparison. 

[Washington  Post.] 

The  Florida  Times-Union  “sincerely  hopes”  that  the  board  of  trade  of  Jackson- 
ville will  not  lend  its  influence  to  the  furtherance  of  any  Congressional  measure  look- 
ing to  the  absolute  or  even  partial  control  of  the  American  telegraph  system  by  the 
National  Government.  It  has  evidently  considered  the  subject  well,  and  speaks  thua 
intelligently  concerning  it : 

The  Government  finds  it  impossible  to  make  its  postal  service  self-sustaining,  and 
it  has  been  in  the  business  for  over  a hundred  years.  It  could  never  make  a postal- 
telegraph  system — not  even  a limited  one -self-sustaining.  It  might  possibly  give 
the  people  cheaper  telegraphy — and  this  is  a matter  of  much  doubt — but  the  people 
would  have  to  pay  the  difference,  and  perhaps  more,  in  the  form  of  taxes.  The  his- 
tory of  the  telegraph  system  in  this  country  shows  a constant  decrease  in  rates.  This 
decrease  is  going  on  every  day.  Why  should  the  Government,  which  has  no  right  to 
meddle  with  the  business  of  individuals,  engage  in  an  occupation  of  which  it  knows 
nothing  ? The  result  of  a measure  of  this  kiud  would  be  only  the  creation  of  a vast 
number  of  offices  to  be  filed  by  political  preference,  an  enormous  expense  in  their 
maintenance,  and  a consequent  burden  upon  the  people,  instead  of  a boon.  In  many' 
respects  the  telegraph  rates  in  this  country  are  already  cheaper  than  in  those  countries 
where  the  system  is  under  Government  control,  and  all  the  world  knows  that  the 
service  is  far  superior.  These  statements  can  easily  be  proved.  The  Government 
has  too  much  to’look  after  now — and  do  it  well.  Let  it  not  burden  itself  with  new 
responsibilities  which  only  breed  infinite  mischief  and  do  the  people  no  good. 

What  our  Florida  contemporary  says  about  the  inexpediency  of  extending  the  ma- 
chinery of  the  Government  to  the  control  of  the  telegraph  system  applies  with  equal 
force  to  various  other  extraordinary  uses  to  which  it  is  now  and  then  proposed  to 
attach  the  running  gear  of  centralized  power  at  Washington.  It  is  a dangerous  and 
un-American  tendency  from  first  to  last,  and  nothing  is  so  well  calculated  to  weaken 
the  stability  of  the  foundations  on  which  our  spleudid  system  of  popular  sovereignty 
rests. 

There  is  a good  deal  more  danger  of  too  much  Government  in  this  country  than  of 
too  little.  The  people  can  get  along  better  when  they  don’t  have  quite  enough  than 
when  they  are  pampered  and  over- fed.  It  is  the  fault,  indeed,  with  many  of  our 
State  legislatures  that  they  legislate  iu  excess  of  all  reason  or  necessity.  Congress 
tends  iu  the  same  direction.  It  undertakes  to  do  vastly  more  than  the  public  require- 
ments really  demand,  and  more  than,  under  any  circumstances,  it  can  do  well. 

But  it  is  an  evil  that  thrives  upon  itself.  The  more  the  people  get  into  the  habit 
of  running  to  Congress  for  help,  the  greater  grows  their  incapacity  for  helping  them- 
selves. Hence  a condition  of  the  public  mind  that  verges  upon  abject  dependence, 
and  a gradual  wearing  away  of  that  self-respecting  self-reliance  that  should  consti- 
tute the  chief  glory  and  adornment  of  a free  people.  Hence  the  growth  of  the  pa- 
ternal theory  that  governments  were  instituted  for  thesole  purpose  of  supporting  the 
people,  and  not  the  people  to  do  their  own  supporting  in  their  own  independent  and 
progressive  way. 

The  Constitution  prescribes  iu  set  terms  all  the  powers  with  which  Congress  and 
the  Executive  may  safely  be  intrusted,  or  at  least  an  ample  sufficiency.  All  other 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


137 


rights  or  powers  remain  with  the  States  and  the  people,  and  can  not  he  too  jealously 
guarded.  Yet  every  broad  construction  which  Congress  is  asked  to  put  upon  our 
organic  law,  in  order  that  Federal  power  may  be  more  generally  dilfused  and  Fed- 
eral aid  more  liberally  distributed,  and  Federal  assumption  of  duties  to  which  the 
Government  sustains  strained  and  unnatural  relations  be  in  any  wise  encouraged^ 
involves  an  absolute  surrender  of  reserved  prerogative  and  individual  liberty. 

Hence  when  the  Government  is  besought  to  take  control  of  the  public  school  sys- 
tem, or  to  acquire  the  ownership  of  the  railroads,  or  to  go  into  the  telegraph  businesa 
on  its  own  account,  or  to  do  any  other  thing  for  the  people  that  the  people  may  do 
for  themselves  to  better  advantage  and  at  no  sacritice  of  pride  or  principle,  it  is  time 
for  the  honest  citizenship  of  the  country  to  call  peremptory  halt  upon  all  such  de- 
partures from  the  paths  their  fathers  trod  and  from  the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Con- 
stitution by  which  their  feet  were  guided. 


Appendix  D. 

CONFIDENTIAL  LETTERS,  NECESSARILY  REPRODUCED  ANONYMOUSLY, 
RECEIVED  BY  THE  POSTMASTER-GENERAL  DURING  THE  CURRENT 
DISCUSSION 

Philadelphia, . 

In  connection  with  the  recent  correspondence  between  the  Department  and  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  permit  me  to  call  your  attention  to  the  decision 
of  Judge  Wallace  in  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  vs.  Mayor  of  New  York  (6 
Rad  way  and  Corporation  Law  Journal,  p.  105),  under  date  of  August  10,  1889.  In  this 
case  the  telegraph  company  sought  to  enjoin  the  city  {inter  alia)  from  interfering 
with  its  use  of  an  elevated  railway  in  order  to  carry  its  wires.  This  injunction  was 
granted  by  Judge  Wallace,  upon  the  ground  that  a removal  of  the  wires  altogether 
from  the  elevated  railway  was  equivalent  to  a denial  of  the  privilege  granted  by  act 
of  Congress  of  July  24,  1866.  This  decision  was  made  April  15,  1889. 


President  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  has  denied  that  tele- 
graph companies  claim  the  right  to  put  poles  on  streets  of  towns  and  cities.  As  there 
have  not  been  many  instances  where  they  have  claimed  this  right,  possibly  you  may 
be  interested  in  a case  that  was  tried  at  Fort  Wayne,  Ind.  Inclosed  I hand  you  copy 
of  a newspaper  clipping  that  I have  preserved,  and  is  about  as  strong  eAddence  as 
you  may  require. 

I am  a warm  advocate  of  Government  ownership  and  control  of  the  telegraph,  and 
furnished  the  data  for  the  legislative  committee  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  in  1888, 
when  they  were  so  strongly  advocating  the  measure. 

[ Inclosure.  1 

“Indianapolis,  December  5”  (1887  or  1888). — “A  decision  affecting  the  rights  of 
property  owners  and  telegraph  companies  was  recorded  to-day  at  Columbia  City,  Ind.,. 
by  Judge  Olds.  The  suit  originated  at  Fort  Wayne,  and  was  taken  to  Columbia  City 
I on  a change  of  venue.  J udge  Olds  says,  among  other  things,  that  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  having  accepted  the  act  of  Congress  of  July,  1866,  the  common 
council  of  the  city  of  Fort  Wayne  could  not  compel  the  telegraph  company  to  remove 
their  poles  from  a post  road,  and  that  the  city,  under  its  police  powers,  could  not 
''pass  any  ordinance  or  do  any  act  which  would  deprive  the  telegraph  company  of  any 
rights  given  by  the  act  of  Congress  or  abridge  any  of  its  rights  under  that  act.  The 
court  refused  to  grant  an  injunction,  dissolved  the  temporary  injunction  heretofore^ 
granted,  and  entered  a general  finding  for  the  telegraph  company.” 


Seattle, . 

I Go  on  with  yonr  scheme  of  making  the  telegraph  service  a part  of  the  mail  service 
it  is  feasible  and  to  this  remote  part  of  onr  country  will  be  of  inestimable  benefit.  We 
are  now  paying  out  $10  to  $20  per  day,  at  a rate  of  $1  per  ten  words  for  messages  to 
points  of  consumption  of  one  of  our  chief  products  of  this  part  of  the  Territory  of 
Washington,  viz,  hops.  We  have  to  do  it,  for  the  least  time  we  can  possibly  write 
and  get  answer  from  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  to  which  cities  we  ship  many  car- 


138 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


loads  these  hops,  is  twelve  days.  Commercial  men  have  to  use  telegraph,  and,  as  you 
see,  at  very  heavy  cost.  Nine-tenths  of  my  telegrams,  at  cost  of  10  cents  for  ten  words, 
would  answer  every  purpose  of  business  on  this  coast  if  when  received  were  put  into 
mail  and  delivered  by  carriers.  They  should  be  sent  and  gotten  in  that  way  inside 
two  days  at  least,  thereby  saving  ten  days’  time  in  so  urgent  a business  as  this  hop 
business  is,  where  fluctuations  in  one  day  on  a car  is  equal  to  |100  to  $200.  The  cost 
of  telegraphic  service  and  the  slowness  of  mail  are  the  two  biggest  drawbacks  in  the 
business  here. 


I have  often  wondered  when  I hear  of  the  Postmaster-General’s  idea  of  the  Gov- 
ernment controlling  the  telegraph  if  he  had  fully  studied  the  situation,  and  if  he 
realized  that  in  less  than  two  years  xhere  would  be  a radical  change  in  both  the  tele- 
graph and  telephone  business.  As  it  is  now,  the  two  companies  are  under  contract 
to  not  interfere  with  each  other’s  business,  but  the  telephone  patents  and  this  agree- 
ment both  will  expire  at  that  time,  and  then  the  war  between  the  long-distance  tele- 
phone and  the  telegraph  will  begin,  and  that  it  will  be  a hotly  contested  battle  there 
is  little  doubt. 


Port  Gibson,  Miss., . 

Will  you  permit  me  to  call  the  attention  of  your  Department  to  a matter  which  is 
of  general  interest  to  all  the  communities  in  this  portion  of  our  country  subject  to  a ■ 
visitation  of  the  yellow-fever  scourge.  Whenever  the  yellow  fever  breaks  out  at 
any  point  all  cities  and  towns,  and  some  counties,  having  communication  with  the  ' 
infected  district  at  once  declare  a rigid  quarantine.  The  efiect  of  this  is  to  cut  off  \ 
all  communication  between  themselves  and  the  outside  world.  Trains  and  boats  are  , 
prevented*  from  receiving  or  delivering  the  mails.  Business  men  are  unable  to  com- 
municate by  letter  with  their  correspondents,  and  all  are  prevented  from  hearing 
from  relatives  and  friends  in  the  quarantined  places  except  by  telegraph,  whose  rates  ' 
prevent  many  from  using  the  wire.  ' 

Now,  my  suggestion  is  this : that  Congress  authorize  the  Postmaster-General  to 
contract  with  the  telegraph  companies  for  reduced  rates  at  such  points  as  may  be 
quarantined  against  diseases  during  the  existence  of  quarantine,  and  in  those  towns 
where  telegraj)h  operators  receive  commissions  on  receipts  of  their  offices  in  lieu  of 
fixed  salaries  that  the  Gov^ernment  allow  them  extra  compensation  for  the  extra  work  ; 
fhey  are  called  upon  to  perform  during  such  times.  I am  led  to  make  this  suggestion  ■ 
from  the  experience  of  Port  Gibson  during  the  panic  which  followed  the  receipt  of  ( 
the  news  that  yellow  fever  had  appeared  at  Jackson,  Miss.,  in  September,  1888,  when  j 
the  strictest  quarantine  was  immediately  put  into  operation.  | 

While  some  members  of  Congress  may  be  opposed  to  Governmental  control  of  the  • 
telegraph,  none  should  be  opposed  to  these  temporary  agreements  between  Govern- 
ment  and  telegraph  companies  when  an  emergency  requires  it.  ■' 


You  probably  know  that  in  1876  the  telephone  patents  were  granted  the  Bell  Com- 
pany, and  that  at  that  time  they  attempted  to  introduce  the  device.  They  were  met 
by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  with  a similar  device  known  as  the  Edison 
telegraph.  This  was  generally  considered  an  infringement,  but  as  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  was  a strong  company  both  as  to  practical  workers  and  mjney 
it  was  thought  advisable  to  compromise  and  get  them  out  of  the  way  of  what  was 
then  a very  weak  company  (the  Bell  Telephone  Company).  This  I have  always  un- 
derstood was  done,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  agreeing  to  turn  over  all 
telephone  patents  to  the  Bell  Company  in  consideration  of  the  Bell  Company  paying 
them  20  per  cent,  of  the  gross  earnings  and  an  agreement  that  they  would  transmit 
only  verbal  messages;  and  I believe  this  agreement  runs  to  March  1,  1893,  at  which 
time  the  original  telephone  patents  expire. 

Since  that  agreement  was  made  the  telephone  company  has  become  as  powerful  and  . 
wealthy  as  the  telegraph,  and  just  what  the  outcome  will  be  when  the  two  companies 
meet  on  an  equal  footing  some  one  shrewder  than  I only  can  tell.  If  the  telephone  is 
willing  to  confine  their  business  as  in  the  past,  a new  arrangement  may  be  entered  ;; 
into  and  things  go  along  smooth;  if  not  there  will  be  war.  4 

Why  I think  the  telephone  will  not  be  satisfied  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  from  10.30  ^ 
p.  m.  to  8 a.  in.  their  toll  lines  are  idle,  and  if  they  collect  during  the  da.v  what  is  v 
known  as  night  messages,  for  transmission  within,  say,  200  miles,  they  could  do  it  ati> 
very  little  expense,  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  receiving  office  would  have  direct  com-  ^ 
jmiinication  without  the  expense  of  delivery.  % 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


139 


The  great  mass  of  the  people  are  too  intensely  occupied  in  the  difficult  struggles  of 
life  to  give  such  matters  the  attention  they  de&erve,  but  I find  that  when  it  is  brought 
home  to  them  that  irrespective  of  party  I find  the  people  generally  in  favor  of  the 
postal  department  controlling  the  telegraphs.  1 am  an  old  telegrapher  myself,  and 
was  in  charge  of  lines  in  this  State  as  superintendent  connecting  with  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  Telegraph  Company  before  their  lines  were  sold  out  to  the  old  octopus,  the 
Western  Union,  and  I have  watched  your  controversy  with  the  latter  company  with 
a good  deal  of  interest ; glad  to  see  a practical  man  grapple  with  the  question,  hoping 
that  it  will  result  ere  long  in  what  I consider  a grand  thing  for  the  people,  a cheaper 
system  of  rapid  comjnunication,  and  whilel  think  the  profits  arising  from  this  service 
is  a secondary  consideration  with  the  Government,  still  I hold  and  claim  that  even 
at  the  lowest  rates  propose^!  by  you  that  there  can  be  a fair  return  made  upon  the 
money  invested,  and  as  evidence  of  this  I will  refer  to  the  fact  that  while  what  the 
Western  Union  called  the  ruinous  competition  with  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Company 
existed  they  still  continued  to  earn  and  pa^’^  dividends  upon  a capital  four  or  five 
times  larger  than  the  actual  value  of  the  property  represented;  and  while  I could 
give  a good  many  reasons  why  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Company  were  not  as  success- 
ful as  they  might  be,  yet  under  all  their  faults  and  disa  i vantages  they  were  fast 
getting  on  to  a paying  basis  when  they  sold  out  at  a profit. 


There  is  a point  and  a serious  one  that  should  be  raised  in  this  matter,  and  that  is 
the  inefficiency  of  the  present  telegraph  system  in  so  far  as  it  is  used  at  least  in  con- 
nection with  the  mail  service.  If  there  is  any  branch  of  public  service  that  needs  re- 
forming it  is  certainly  this.  I am  no  chronic  kicker  or  anything  of  that  kind,  but 
many  of  the  actions  of  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Comj)any  in  regard  to  business 
<;onnected  with  the  mail  is  inexcusable.  Take,  for  instance,  as  an  illustration,  last 
Friday;  I received,  as  postmaster  here,  three  dispatches  from  commercial  traveling 
men  ordering  their  mail  forwarded  to  three  dilferent  points.  Not  one  of  these  dis- 
patches, but  all  three  of  them  were  transmitted  wrong  ; that  is,  the  initial  of  the  name 
was  wrong  or  the  name  spelled  so  badly  it  was  absolutely  impossible  to  decipher  it. 
Of  course  there  was  some  similarity  in  names  or  initials  so  as  to  give  me  some  clue 
as  to  who  it  was  meant,  for  a postmaster  is  not  safe  in  guessing  at  these  matters. 
I was  confident  they  were  wrong  and  refused  them  and  asked  the  telegraph  company 
to  have  a second  transmission.  They  did  so,  and  in  each  case  of  the  second  trans- 
mission the  names  and  initials  were  absolutely  correct;  but  the  second  transmis  ion 
did  not  get  here  until  the  next  morning,  and  as  a consequence  thereof  the  mail  for 
these  gentlemen  was  delayed  in  forwarding  from  twelve  to  twenty-four  hours.  I 
mention  this  particular  date  because  it  is  fresh  in  my  mind,  but  I could  give  you 
many  others  of  like  character;  in  fact  it  is  a frequent  occurrence  at  this  post-office. 

Again  it  is  simply  wonderful  the  delay  in  many  of  these  dispatches.  One  of  the 
leading  and  most  responsible  commercial  traveling  men  of  this  city  makes  the  prop- 
osition to  wager  any  sum  from  |100  to  $1,00J  that  he  will  file  in  this  telegraph  office 

in  this  city,  any  day  in  the  year,  a dispatch  addressed  to , and  after  filing  and 

paying  for  the  dispatch  of  the  message,  he  will  step  across  the  street  and  hire  a livery 

team  and  drive  to , a distance  of  32  miles  from  here,  and  his  wager  is  that  he 

will  reach in  advance  of  his  telegram.  Certainly  such  things  are  inexcusable, 

but  your  telegraph  bill  is  striking  at  the  very  root  of  the  evil. 

Then  again  some  two  years  ago  I had  a personal  experience  which  cost  me  |40.  I 
sent  a telegram  to  the  Third  Assistant  Postmaster-General  ordering 20,000 No.  5 2-cent 
envelopes,  first  quality,  white.  The  envelopes  came  but  were  not  first  quality  and 
were  not  white.  An  investigation  showed  that  the  telegraph  company  in  transmit- 
ting the  message  left  the  words  “ first  quality”  and  “ white  ” out  of  the  message,  and 
the  order  was  filled  exactly  as  the  message  reached  the  Third  Assistant  Postmaster- 
General  with  these  words  left  out.  The  result  was  I could  not  use  the  envelopes  and 
the  Department  simply  redeemed  them  for  their  face  value  in  postage  stamps.  The 
only  thing  for  me  to  do  was  to  grin  and  bear  the  loss.  Of  course  the  telegraph  com- 
pany “ we;^e  sorry  ;”  so  they  informed  me. 


I see  that  Dr.  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Company,  asserts  that  the  sender  of 
messages  had  not  asked  that  telegraph  companies  be  placed  under  Government  con- 
trol. I have  asked  it  many  a time  ancj,  the  people  demand  it.  Dr.  Green  can  only 
speak  for  his  monopoly.  You  will  do  the  people  and  country  invaluable  service  and 
secure  their  everlasting  gratitude  by  preventing  the  further  robbery  of  the  people  by 
the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 


140 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


It  is  proper  for  you  to  know  that  Dr.  Norvin  Green’s  testimony  and  arguments 
before  the  House  committee,  yesterday  and  to-day,  were  telegraphed  to  all  the  news- 
papers of  the  New  York  Associated  Press,  free  of  telegraph  toll,  by  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company,  as  so  stated  at  the  head  of  each  day’s  dispatch  devoted  to  the 
subject.  It  is  interesting  and  in  some  passages  instructive,  and  therefore,  as  I 
observe,  it  has  been  quite  generally  accepted  and  published  in  full,  on  such  liberal 
terms. 

But  as  Dr.  Green  might  not  feel  the  same  interest  in  disseminating  your  side  of  the 
facts  and  arguments  in  the  case,  I think  it  fair  to  notify  you  of  the  advantage  thus 
possessed  and  used  by  your  opponents  in  influencing  public  opinion  ; and  I think  sn 
the  more,  because  my  experience  with  the  postal  telegraph  in  Germany  and  other 
European  countries  (as  a correspondent  only)  enables  me  to  see  that  Dr.  Green's 
statements  thereupon  include  such  facts  as  are  in  consonance  with  the  object  of  his 
argument,  and  omit  some  that  are  not.  Believing  that  your  propositions  in  respect 
to  a post-ofiQce  telegraph  would,  if  carried  out,  be  beneficial  to  the  public,  and  from 
no  other  motive,  I make  this  communication.  I have  no  desire  to  be  heard  publicly 
upon  the  subject.  My  position  as  news  editor  of  a daily  newspaper  enables  me  tO' 
notice  what  appears  like  an  interested  desire  on  the  part  of  the  Western  Union  tele- 
graph management  to  furnish  the  public  with  the  president’s  valuable  statements 
before  the  committee  ; but  I write  you  this  solely  on  my  own  motion,  and  simply  as 
a citizen,  interested  as  all  citizens  are,  in  the  good  of  the  postal  service. 


9 

Last  evening  we  got  the  telegraph  report  of  the  statements  of  Mr.  Green,  of  the 
Western  Union,  in  which  he  makes  use  of  words  to  infer  that  it  is  the  speculative  • 
classes  who  would  be  benefited  or  mostly  interested  in  reduction  of  rates  on  the  es-  ; 
tablishment  of  a cheaper  system  of  telegraphy,  and  to  refute  that  idea  I wish  to  do  ] 
a little  work  in  getting  as  numerously  signed  as  possible  petitions  of  the  business  men  ‘ 
of  this  city  in  favor  of  the  postal  telegraph  bill,  and  unless  I hear  from  you  to  the 
contrary  will  obtain  and  send  them  to  you.  Outside  of  this  I don’t  see  that  Mr.  Green  ’ 
does  more  than  rake  up  the  old  “ chestnuts,”  ai  d hgs  no  valid  arguments  to  offer,^  ^ 
and  in  a nutshell  I can  give  the  reason  why  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  ■ 
oppose  low  rates  : It  is  their  aim,  as  of  all  private  corporations,  to  get  the  most  money 
they  can  out  of  the  dear  public  ” with  the  least  possible  return,  and  they  know  as-  : 
I know  from  past  experiences,  that  with  reduction  of  rates  will  come  a flood  of  new 
business  that  will  require  more  servants  to  do  it,  and  the  marker  would  not  then  be  , 
gutted  with  more  operators  (as  now)  than  are  needed,  and  they  would  have  to  pay  > 
compensation  more  nearly  fair  for  good  and  hard  services  performed.  They  simply  < 
prefer  that  they  do  one-half  the  business  at  double  rates  and  fix  salaries  at  half-price^  j 
as  they  are  doing  to-daj’^  to  a very  great  extent.  ; 

I notice  that  tlie  proposed  bill  does  not  mention  the  newspaper  service.  Is  this  an 
oversight  or  intentional  ? There  are  certain  hours  after  the  closing  of  ordinary  luisi-  ^ 
ness  places  when  the  press  of  service  on  the  wires  is  very  much  relieved,  and  these  ■ 
are  the  very  hours  when  the  newsgatherers  are  sending  matter  to  their  papers  for  the  < 
morning  readers — say  from  9 p.  m.  to  2 a.  m.,  and  the  use  of  the  wires  to  a great  ex-:^' 
tent  could  be  turned  over  to  these  papers  during  these  hours  at  considerable  profit 
and  no  expense  whatever  to  the  Department.  ll 

Another  thing  this  bill  should  provide  for  is,  the  securing  to  the  Department  all  ^ 
the  improvements  that  may  be  made  in  electrical  appliances  on  at  least  as  good  terms  » 
as  any  others.  Possibly  there  may  be  some  law  reserving  to  Government  Depart- 
meuts  these  rights  of  which  I am  not  informed.  With  reference  to  one  other  detail  .> 
of  the  service,  I will  stop.  That  is  the  “special  delivery”  business.  I think  it  only  | 
fair  to  those  paying  for  special  service  that,  to  give  it  any  distinct  benefit  over  ordi-  ' 
nary  business,  it  should  be  separated  into  a special  class,  that  all  business  in  this  -, 
class  should  be  transmitted  in  the  order  of  filing  in  this  class,  and  shall  have  priority  1 
over  second-class  business.  This  would  result  in  the  larger  portion  of  th  “day”^  l 
business  going  into  the  first  class,  and  in  addition  to  increasing  the  revenue  would  i 
give  more  satisfaction  to  those  using  the  wires.  ' 

Pardon  my  being  so  free  in  my  suggestions,  and  blame  it  all  to  my  intense  interest  , 
in  this  enterprise,  and  hope  that  it  will  soon  be  an  established  fact  and  start  out  as- 
free  as  can  be  from  auj'  mistakes  that  might  hinder  or  jeopardize  its  success.  ^ 


I see  you  have  been  severely  attacked  by  Dr.  N.  Green,  of  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company.  The  animus  of  the  attack  was  inspired  doubtless  by  the  “ green- 
eyed  monster,”  who  certainly  looks  with  great  disfavor  on  the  postal  telegraph.  But 
nevertheless  the  postal  telegraph  is  what  the  people  of  this  great  republic  want  and; 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


141 


greatly  need.  Be  assured  that  the  people  of  the  Uuited  States  are  with  you  in  your 
■efforts  to  secure  the  postal  telegraph.  You  will  receive  the  support  of  their  sympathy 
and  universal  approbation,  and,  if  you  succeed,  their  profound  and  enduring  grati- 
tude. The  more  you  are  attacked  hy  Dr.  Green  the  higher  you  will  stand  in  the  esti- 
mation of  your  countrymen  at  large. 


I have  forwarded  you  by  to-day’s  mail  au  editorial  written  hy  myself  on  the  postal 
telegraph  bill.  I learned  the  business  in  1862  and  was  in  the  United  States  military 
telegraph  corps  during  the  remainder  of  the  war.  I quit  the  service  a dozen  or  more 
years  since,  when  the  Western  Union  began  cutting  salaries,  as  did  a large  number  of 
capable  and  intelligent  men  who  had  been  induced  to  choose  it  as  a profession  on 
account  of  the  reasonable  remuneration  given  for  valuable  services.  Since  then  a 
difierent  class  of  men  have  gone  into  the  business  and  the  service  is  not  what  it  was 
formerly. 

I entered  the  journalistic  field  after  quitting  the  service,  but  have  always  been  an 
■enthusiastic  believer  in  the  postal-telegraph  system  and  made  it  a study.  I*am  what 
is  known  as  one  of  the  “ old  timers”  and  well  know  ihat  the  only  hope  of  the  pro- 
fession is  the  establishment  of  the  postal  system.  I incorporated  as  many  substantial 
reasons  for  the  passage  of  the  bill  in  the  article  referred  to  as  was  possible  in  the  space 
set  aside  for  that  purpose;  but  there  are  many  more  arguments  just  as  forcible  that 
can  be  advanced  in  favor  thereof. 


As  an  old  operator  I beg  to  lend  my  humble  but  practical  knowledge  to  your  com- 
mendable effort  in  establishing  a postal  telegraph  system.  It  is  necessary,  poi)ular, 
and  demanded  by  the  masses.  Financially  it  can  l)e  made  self-supporting,  as  I will 
endeavor  to  show,  if  conducted  as  a branch  of  the  Post-Office  Departmeut,°by  practi- 
cal telegraphers,  and  started  in  a quiet,  experimental  way.  I will  begin  by  taking 
Dr.  Norvin  Green’s  argument,  as  I saw  it  in  a daily  paper."  He  does  not  coniine  bin? 
self  to  the  truth  when  he  says  that  the  average  pay  of  operators  of  to-day  is  |61.45 
in  the  United  States,  and  $26  to  $29  in  England.  He  seems  to  have  manufactured  this 
average  from  the  low-salaried  employes  in  England,  leaving  out  the  nobility  and 
other  highly-pa\d  officials  who  are  feeding  on  the  telegraph  there,  and  has  included  such 
in  his  avei  age  for  the  United  States.  Wherever  he  obtained  his  average  it  does  not 
alter  the  ffict  that  nine-tenths  of  the  operators  emj^'oyed  by  the  Western  Union  are 
paid  from  $15  to  $40  per  month,  and  that  many  educated,  intelligent  men,  thorough 
in  their  profession,  are  being  paid  $50  per  month.  If  his  figures  were  correct  it  wmuld 
only  correspond  generally  with  all  other  comparison  of  wages  between  that  country 
and  this,  and  is  no  argument  that  the  Government  would  pay  less  than  the  $61.45 
which,  he  claims,  is  being  paid  by  the  Western  Union. 

It  is  unfair  also  to  compare  the  rate  charged  for  messages,  because  in  England  the 
■distances  are  short,  and  the  towns  being  compact  there  is  less  telegraphing  than  at 
long  distances  in  this  country,  with  which  he  compares  it,  and  as  everything  else  is 
cheaper  there  than  here  why  not  the  telegraph  rate?  The  comparison  of  rates  of 
j to-day  with  those  of  twenty-two  years  ago  is  absurd,  unless  he  compares  also  twenty- 
itwo  years  ago  with  a prior  period,  and  takes  also  into  consideration  what  progress 
laud  competition  have  done.  To  points  where  this  competition  has  not  reached  they 
[have  maintained  a rate  sufficient  to  enable  them  to  starve  out  new  and  competing 
I companies.  So  far  as  new'  companies  are  concerned,  their  weakness  has  been  in  actual 
; capital  and  in  constructing  lines,  and  not  because  the  rate  was  not  a paying  one. 
When  once  poles  and  lines  are  constructed  and  offices  are  fitted  up,  it  is  then  tliat  it 
I costs  no  more  to  transmit  a message  500  miles  than  10.  It  is  then  also  that  the  busi- 
ness pays  a profit,  and  the  time  for  buying  out  and  consolidation  is  reached.  If  the 
I deficit  in  eleven  years  amounted  to  that  many  million  dollars,  this  is  no  more  than 
; can  be  claimed  of  the  post-offices  and  other  great  benefits  and  accommodations  to  the 
(masses.  Excepting  in  the  far  West  the  expense  of  maiutenance  is  no  greater  here 
Than  in  England  The  principal  expense  in  this  direction  is  in  large  cities  where  the 
;net-work  of  wires  requires  constant  attention.  Under  the  Government  there  will  be 
no  managers  required  such  as  he  claims.  Popularity  and  natural  instinct  will  lead 
business  to  the  post-office  as  goes,  the  mail. 

Competent  operators,  with  managers,  under  the  postmaster  is  all  that  is  required. 
Without  rentals,  contracts,  watered  stock,  counsel  fees,  etc.,  why  can’t  the  Govern- 
ment do  the  general  telegraphing  of  the  country  cheaper  than  thev  ? An  operator 
can  not  be  made  in  a year,  but  such  as  they  use  are  made  in  less  time.  There  are 
plenty  of  able  operators  whose  condition  is  deplorable.  A field  such  as  you  propose 
will  be  an  incentive  to  young  men  and  women  to  perfect  their  profession.  If  the 


142 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


English  emi)loy  twice  as  many,  so  will  we ; an  admission  from  the  doctor  in  favor  of 
your  system. 

In  spite  of  this  blessing  to  the  masses  there  will  always  be  a private  telegraph 
company.  There  is  a class  of  business  such  as  cables,  brokers,  press  matter,  etc., 
that  will  support  any  company  on  a reasonable  basis.  In  order  to  deal  fairly  with 
these  companies  I would  respectfully  suggest  the  leasing  of  one  or  more  wires 
from  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  and  gradually  absorbing  it.  Connect  the  post- 
offices  by  telegraph  and  for  all  commercial  and  special  business  charge  the  present 
rate  for  a term  of  years,  but  all  general  correspondence  to  be  delivered  inside  of  twelve 
hours  a lower  rate  and  a class  deliverable  inside  of  twenty-four  hours,  a still  lower 
rate,  distances,  etc.,  considered.  Small  offices  can  be  worked  by  register  instrument 
or  telephone,  requiring  little  knowledge.  It  must  be  begun  in  an  experimental  way 
to  grow  into  a glorious  system,  when,  if  successful,  the  companies  be  paid  a reasona- 
ble price  for  poles  and  wires  or  to  continue  as  private  corporations. 


Dr.  Green  is  misleading  in  his  statement  that  American  operators  are  better  remu- 
nerated than  those  in  England.  By  the  English  system  the  operator  is  paid  on  a sys- 
tem much  similar  to  the  one  governing  the  army  and  navy.  His  salary  is  increased 
yearly,  and  at  the  end  of  a certain  term  of  service  (about  twenty  years)  he  is  pen- 
sioned. In  the  end  the  British  system  is  the  more  advantageous  to  the  employes. 
Dr.  Green's  statement  about  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  is  ridiculous.  Ask  Robert  Garrett 
himself.  He  was  sold  out  by  men  whom  he  believed  were  his  friends.  It  is  an  open 
secret  in  Wall  street.  Several  operators  have  spoken  to  me  about  the  Postmaster- 
General’s  plan  and  all  have  unqualifiedly  indorsed  it.  Of  course  we  all  understand 
the  case  when  Dr.  Green  says  the  Western  Union  is  not  controlled  by  one  man  ; and 
after  reading  his  statement  I presume  we  all  hummed  the  comic  opera  song : “ It  is 

near  it,  very  near  it.”  The  question  is  not  whether  Mr.  Gould  has  ever  used  the  tele-! 
graph  for  his  own  purposes,  but  whether  he  could.  There  is  only  one  answer.  No 
one  man  should  have  this  power.  The  Western  Union  discriminates  in  favor  of  its 
more  influential  customers.  Stock-brokers  have  a quick  Morse  service.  Between 
many  important  points  the  slow  English  (Wheatstone)  system  is  used  for  ordinary 
busiuess.  All  this  is  wrong.  The  Western  Union  is  allowing  its  lines  and  equipments 
to  decay.  If  any  of  its  property  is  bought,  the  valuation  should  be  set  by  appraisers 
who  are  competent  to  make  a fair  appraisal. 


Your  relations  and  business  with  telegraph  companies  have  been  pleasant  and  sat- 
isfactory, and  all  Government  employds  can  truthfully  say  the  same,  for  this  tele- 
graph company  does  not  wish  to  offend  a Government  man  and  bring  complaint,  and 
will  do  everything  possible  to  rush  the  business.  But  let  a man  come  to  one  of  their' 
offices  in  the  garb  of  a couutryman  or  laborer,  and  see  the  difference  in  their  manners 

aud  price.  For  example : Last  summer,  in  search  of  employment,  I went  to and 

was  taken  sick  there  with  mountain  fever.  After  getting  able  to  walk  around  I 

found  my  money  had  run  short.  I had  some  money  at , and  went  to  Western 

Union  office  and  told  the  manager  I wanted  to  send  a ten-word  message  to , and 

asked  the  price ; “ 75  cents,  sir  ; very  short.  I said,  ‘ ' Here,  my  friend,  is  50  cents 
and  a cigar;  shoot  this  message  off  as  soon  as  possible.”  He  says:  “ What  is  the 
matter  with  you  ? It  is  75  cents  or  nothing.”  I simply  told  him  I was  not  so  green  as 
I might  look,  and  was  pretty  well  posted  as  to  Western  Union  rates,  having  worked 
at  it  some  myself.  He  then  made  all  manner  of  apologies,  sent  the  message  for  40 
cents,  and  told  me  he  was  only  receiving  $60  a month  as  manager  and  could  not  get 
a moment's  time  for  his  own  use ; aud  worked  for  twelve  to  eighteen  hours  per  day 
and  Sundays. 

Mr.  Chandler  can  not  give  the  names  of  ten  operators  his  company  pays  $90,  $80, 
or  $75,  or  even  $70  a month  to.  Instead  of  giving  you  the  price  paid  operators  he 
eimiily  added  office  rent,  fuel  and  lights,  and  gave  it  as  operators’  salaries.  The  top 
rung  is  $75,  the  lower  $5,  a month  ; aud  let  any  trifling  dispute  come  up  after  a man 
has  served  ten  or  fifteen  years,  and  is  getting  the  enormous  sum  of  $60  or  $75,  and  the 
matter  is  not  looked  into  at  all  by  the  officials,  but  the  operator  is  discharged,  without, 
ceremony,  to  make  room  for  some  man  that  is  compelled  to  work  any  number  of  hours’ 
cheaper.  I am  not  afraid  of  ten,  twelve,  fifteen,  or  even  eighteen  hours’  work  (if 
the  business  requires  it)  if  paid  for  any  over  ten  hours’  actual  work;  but  who  ever 
heard  of  an  operator  getting  pay  for  overtime  ? and  Mr.  Chandler’s  advice  to  go  slow| 
and  not  take  any  steps  in  infringing  on  their  rights  that  the  Government  would  be 
sorry  for  looks  to  me  like  a drowning  man  grabbing  at  straws.  He  knows  the  Gov- 
ernment’s authority  aud  ability  to  construct  aud  use  lines,  and  will  kick  himself  the! 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


143 


rest  of  his  life  if  he  don’t  get  a deal  at  postal  telegraphy  if  it  is  once  established  Of 
course  it  is  to  his  interest  to  throw  cold  water  on  it  now. 

I went  to  one  of  our  city  editors  yesterday  and  told  him  I wanted  to  give  him  some 
pointers  from  actual  experience  in  telegraphy;  also,  wanted  him,  through  his  paner 
the  advantages  of  postal  telegraphy  before  the  public.  He  says  * 
“Hist!  hist!  notso  oud.”  “Why,”  he  says,  “if  we  make  such  a break  the  tele- 
graph  companies  will  cut  us  oflf  from  the  world  entirely.”  He  said  he  must  handle 
them  like  so  many  eggs  in  order  to  get  anything,  and  dare  not  make  a kick  about 
the  bulled  condition  business  comes  and  goes  in.  I know  he,  with  nearly  all  business 
men,  ^rees  with  me  in  this,  but  have  a Western  Union  and  Mutual  Union  club  held 
over  them.  * It  is  my  honest  opinion  the  people  will  never  let  up  until  we 

have  postal  telegraphy.  ^ wo 


I agree  with  you  that  it  (the  telegraphic  service  at  the  South)  is  not  such  as  would 
commend  itself  to  the  commercial  world  as  reliable  in  a business  sense.  But  there 
is  no  apparent  remedy  for  this  evil  unless  we  had  some  strong  competitor.  This  haa 
been  partiady  met  by  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  now  constructing  lines  between 
the  most  important  southern  towns  and  cities.  In  my  opinion  the  public  service  in 
telegraphing  would  be  greatly  enhanced  should  all  the  operators  of  the  United  States 
fomi  themselves  into  a joint  stock  company  for  the  purpose  of  constructing  and  oper- 
ating an  independent  telegraph  system.  This  company  could  be  based  on  the  asso- 
ciation plan,  that  is,  each  operator  paying  into  the  company  every  month  the  sum  of 
loi  every  share  of  stock  be  has  subscribed  for.  There  is  a sufficient  number  of 
commence  construction  upon  this  plan  in  one  month  and  operate  a con- 
sideiablo  number  of  miles  the  first  mouth  at  a cost  of  construction  not  exceedin‘'-$lOO 
per  mile.  As  ail  operators  would  be  financially  interested  in  this  company  and  more 
service,  and  it  being  a purely  comraerciarundertaking  all  busi- 
ness entrusted  to  its  care  would  receive  prompt  attention  as  to  transmission,  delivery 
and  secrecy.  If  such  an  undertaking  were  started  at  once  and  upon  business  princi- 
pleS  in  my  judgment  it  would  receive  fair  treatment  from  the  commercial  world  and 


the  appreciations  a large- 
country  entertain  towards  your  efibrts  in  striving  fo 
of  monopoly  subservient,  if  not  absolutely  a part  of  the  postal  sys 

su“iect  some  ^ ^MP  ™ tWs 

liave  and  no  doubt  will  have  mountains  of  objections  to  overcome,  to  do 
l advocacy  of  this  step.  Gould  & Co.’s  millions  will  be  used  to 

overcome’  people  are  with  you,  and  slowly  and  surely  the  oppressors  will  be 

f Inclosure.] 

HERESY ! 

Colonel  Robert  G.  Ingersoll  has,  we  need  hardly  remark,  a pretty  level  head 

ffias^e^of  niA  the  New  York  Herald  why  he  is  opposed  to  the  pur- 

Western  Union  by  the  Government  he  replied:  “ Simply  because  I ob- 

md  hundipi^  nf  I do  not  want  to  see  millions  of  leaning  polL 

^1  ^ rusted  wire  covered  with  all  sorts  of  con- 

guaranties,  pushed  over  to  the  Government  as  though 
ffie  GovArn^An"iT  new  and  prosperous.  And  besides,  I do  not  want  to  sle 

iltWbrsVn^sr/  business.  Why  should  not  the  Government  go  into 

i tner  business  ? The  fact  that  a thing  is  a necessity  is  no  reason  whv  the  Govern- 

necessities,  but  I do 

the  H*  all  the  bakeries,  or  make  all  the  coffins, 

To  Editors  Dallg  States  : 2,  18d7. 

' oner/tw'th;  P.^fasrapli  I clipped  from  your  paper  of  a late  date.  It  wou  Id 

dSrs  o^he  York  Herald,  as  well  as  a certain  class  of 

.Qmirers  ot  the  celebiated  orator,  seems  to  think  that  the  said  article  is  correct  in  all 

likT”Sr3thpre  f ® subjects  divine.  We  do  not  all  think 

ides’  to  aTl  mnmintn  themselves.  There  are  many 

Ides  to  all  momentous  questions.  When  asked  if  there  is  a God,  he  answered,  “I 


144 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


xion’t  know,  do  you?”  is  a self-evident  fact  that  his  sensibilities  and  intuitions  are 
blunted  like  one  in  the  habitual  use  of  stimulants  or  narcotics. 

The  comparison  of  the  rights  and  uses  of  the  telegraph  to  an  undertaker,  clothier, 
baker,  or  newspaper  is  in  keeping  with  his  loud-sounding  but  weak  and  shallow 
arguments,  if  his  harangues  can  be  considered  as  arguments  at  all. 

Right  of  way  and  expropriation  of  property  are  sovereign  rights,  and  should  never 
be  delegated  to  a citizen,  a corporation,  or  a monopoly  of  any  kind,  because  they  are 
always  oppressive. 

Upon  mature  consideration  it  will  appear  there  are  just  reasons  why  the  Govern- 
ment should  have  sole  control  of  the  telegraph,  the  railroads,  and  the  circulating 
medium  of  the  country,  as  well  as  now  the  postal  system.  Let  the  Government  deal 
direct  with  all  the  people  alike  and  not  (as  now)  for  the  benefit  of  a favored  few 
monopolists,  thereby  impoverishing  the  many,  the  workers,  for  a favored  few.  Bank 
charters,  telegraph  charters,  and  railroad  charters  are  all  combinations  of  oppression 
to  rob  the  masses. 

Undertakers,  bakers,  clothiers,  and  editors  do  not  expropriate  property.  They  do 
not  pretend,  nor  can  they  trample  upon  private  rights  under  a pretense  that  it  is  for 
the  public  good.  They  do  not  exercise  the  sovereign  power  to  destroy  my  farm  and 
your  city  by  passing  through  it  without  my  consent  and  pay  what  they  please  or 
nothing  at  all!  The  tradesmen  do  not  borrow  money  from  the  Government  at  1 per 
cent,  and  loan  it  to  the  people  at  any  price  they  please  and  on  any  security  they  may 
demand  or  lock  it  up  altogether  in  combinations  to  make  corners,  to  rob  the  people 
with  the  people’s  own  money. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  the  Government  should  buy  out  any  of  them  ; she  can  build 
her  own  telegraph  and  railroads,  and  can  loan  the  circulating  medium  direct  to  the 
people  upon  the  same  terms  as  to  the  bondholders,  on  a real  estate  basis.  She  could 
run  the  railroads  for  a cent  a mile,  carry  her  own  mails,  pay  the  laborer  living  wages, 
transport  its  traffics,  and  do  the  Government  business  for  the  good  of  the  whole  peo-^ 
pie  and  put  a stop  to*Wall  street  gambling  millionaires,  Goulds,  and  vultures  of  all 
kindg.  All  such  comparisons  as  the  popular  “ level  head”  makes  are  self-evident' 
foibles,  “ wind-bubbles,”  flatteries  to  the  codfish  aristocracy  of  America.  I tru^t  when 
the  Knights  of  Labor  become  settled  down  to  sober  second  thought  some  latent  thinker 
will  arise  and  enlighten  the  minds  of  the  united  thousands  and  awake  to  these  facts' 
and  problems  for  the  benefit  and  glory  of  a free  people.  And  that  the  time  may 
shortly  come  is  the  earnest  prayer  of  struggling  thousands  who  know  not  which  way 
to  turn  in  their  deathless  efforts  for  that  freedom  which  is  but  faintly  portrayed  in 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  equal  rights,  equal  privileges  to  all,  exclusive 
monopoly  to  none  but  to  the  sovereign  Government  for  the  sole  benefit  of  the  whole 


people  and  country. 

Respectfully,  yours, 


D.  W.  Eames.  \ 


P.  S. — Do  you  dare  to  publish  such  heresy  as  this  in  your  valuable  paper  ? I think 
not ; the  moneyed  aristocracy  would  be  insulted.  So  it  will  go  into  the  waste-basket. 
So  mote  it  be;  the  world  will  continue  to  roll,  nevertheless.  v 

Yours,  j 

Postmaster. 


Appendix  E.  f 

1 

NEW  TELEGRAPH  DEVICES  BROUGHT  TO  THE  ATTENTION  OF  THE 
POST-OFFICE  DEPARTMENT  SINCE  JANUARY  1,  1890.  | 

Patten’s  Synchronous  Multiplex  Telegraph : 

Lieutenant  Patten  testified  before  the  House  Committee  on  Post-Offices  and  Post- 
Roads  to  the  effect  that  his  system  is  capable  of  at  least  eight  transmissions  oyer  one 
wire,  each  transmission  being  accomplished  by  a Morse  operator  at  the  sending  end 
and  one  at  the  receiving  end,  iii  the  same  manner  as  a single  Morse  wire  is  operated. 

Essick  Page-Printing  Telegraph : 

Mr.  Abner  McKinley  testified  that  the  Essick  system  provided  for  the  transmissioui 
of  telegraph  signals  by  means  of  an  electric  type-writer  similar  to  the  Hammond 
type-writing  machine,  the  communication  being  recorded  at  the  distant  end  of  the 
line  in  roman  characters  and  in  page  form  at  about  the  rate  of  Morse  transmission; 
and  that  any  person  who  can  operate  an  ordinary  type- writer  can  do  the  work  of 
sending,  while  at  the  receiving  end  no  especial  skill  is  required,  as  the  message  is 
recorded  automatically,  and  one  person  can  attend  to  a number  of  receiving  instru- 
ments. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


145 


Rogers’  Visual  Syclironism  Telegraph  : 

Mr.  .1.  M.  Varnuiu  testified  that  the  Rogers  system  was  capable  of  transmitting 
from  two  hundred  to  five  hundred  words  per  miiiuce  over  a wire,  which  is  from  five 
to  twelve  times  as  rapid  as  the  ordinary  Morse  transmission  over  a single  wire. 

Jliisha  Gray’s  Teleautograph : 

By  means  of  this  system  it  is  claimed  a telegram  may  be  transmifjed  as  rapidly  aS 
by  Morse,  and  that  at  the  receiving  end  it  will  be  recorded  in  the  precise  form  in 
which  the  original  communication  is  written.  Thus  the  handwriting  of  the  sender 
may  be  reproduced  at  the  receiving  end. 

Hathaway’s  Printing  Telegraph : 

It  is  claimed  by  means  of  this  system  that  telegrams  may  be  transmitted  much 
more  rapidly  than  by  Morse,  and  be  recorded  in  roman  characters.  A prospectus  of 
this  invention  gives  particulars. 

Writing  Telegraj)!! : 

By  this  system  the  sending  operator  transmits  the  telegram  by  means  of  an  electric 
pen  pivoted  in  trout  of  two  magnets  which  are  placed  at  right  angles  to  each  other, 
the  eftect  at  the  receiviugeud  being  that  the  telegram  is  recorded  on  a strip  of  paper 
in  the  handwriting  of  the  sending  ojaerator. 

Mallet  Printing  Telegraph : 

In  this  system  the  telegram  is  prepared  for  transmission  by  an  embossing  machine, 
a strip  of  card  paper  receiving  the  impression  of  a series  of  stylii,  the  impressions  by 
their  location  or  position  upon  the  card  indicating  the  letters  of  the  alphabet.  Tlie 
card,  which  may  be  of  any  desired  length,  containing  one  or  a hundred  telegrams,  is 
tlieu  fed  through  the  transmitter  and  at  the  receiving  end  the  communication  is  re- 
corded in  roman  characters  upon  a strip  of  paper.  The  speed  is  about  the  same  as 
that  of  Morse.  No  skilled  opeiators  are  required  at  either  end. 

Delaney  Multiplex  Telegraph: 

This  system  is  used  by. the  English  telegraph  department  to  some  extent,  and  by 
its  means  six  or  eight  telegrams  are  transmitted  over  one  wire  by  Morse  operators. 

Van  Rysselbergh’s  Phono-Multiplex  Telegraph  : 

By  means  of  this  system  it  is  claimed  that  eight,  twelve,  or  even  twenty  separate 
series  of  signals  may  be  sent  over  a wire,  each  series  requiring  Morse  operators  for 
their  manipulation,  or  four  telegrams  may  be  sent  over  one  wire  by  any  of  the  well- 
known  printing  systems,  such  as  that  of  Hughes.  It  is  held  that  the  result  last 
named  has  actually  been  accomplished  between  London  and  Paris  over  the  channel 
cable. 

Van  Rysselbergh’s  Simultaneous  Telegraph  and  Telephone  System  : 

By  this  system  it  is  possible  to  establish  Morse  or  other  ordinary  telegraph  circuits 
upon  the  same  wires  which  are  at  the  same  time  being  used  for  telephone  signals. 
This  system  is  used  largely  upon  government  telegraph  lines  in  Belgium,  and  has 
lately  been  successfully  tried  between  New  York  and  Boston  in  this  country. 

Craig’s  Chemical  Automatic  Telegraph: 

This  system  is  held  to  be  far  superior  in  efficiency  and  speed  to  the  Wheatstone 
automatic,  which  is  used  extensively  in  England  and  to  a smaller  extent  in  the 
United  States.  The  telegram  is  prepared  for  transmission  by  means  of  a punching 
nachine,  a series  of  holes  being  punched  in  a strip  of  paper,  so  that  when  the  paper 
s passed  between  a metallic  peu,  or  brush,  and  a roller  the  current  is  made  and 
jroken  with  great  rapidity.  The  record  at  the  receiving  end  is  upon  a similar  strip 
Df  paper  prepared  by  being  placed  in  a solution  of  ferro  cyanide  of  potassium,  or 
)ther  substance,  one  property  of  which  is  to  show  a brown  or  black  mark  wherever 
touched  by  the  electric  current.  One  thousand,  and  even  two  thousand,  words  per 
ninute  can  be  transmitted  by  this  means,  requiring  to  be  translated  and  copied  at 
;he  receiving  end  by  anyone  who  is  able  to  read  the  Morse  signals.  No  special  skill 
s required  at  either  end. 

Hotchkiss’s  Automatic  Telegraph: 

Some  of  the  details  of  this  system  are  the  same  as  those  of  Craig’s,  but  at  the  re- 
leiviug  end  the  strip  of  paper  may  be  passed  between  a pair  of  rollers,  and  the  sig- 
lals  reproduced  on  a local  telegraph  sounder  at  a rate  of  speed  allowing  a Morse 
iperator  to  write  down  the  communication  in  the  same  manner  as  if  the  telegram  was 
leing  transmitted  by  hand  from  the  distant  end  of  the  wire. 

P T 10 


146 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Taucke’s  Chemical  Telegraph : 

This  system  is  much  like  that  of  Craig’s  or  Hotchkiss’s. 

Sheehy’s  Printing  Telegraph : 

This  system  is  something  like  tlie  usual  ticker  system  used  for  the  distribution  o^ 
stock  and  news  reports  to  brokers,  but  it  is  said  to  be  much  more  simple  and  econom 
ical. 

Edison  Phonoplex  Telegraph : 

This  device  provides  for  superposing  upon  an  ordinary  telegraph  circuit  or  wire  a 
phonic  circuit,  which  in  its  turn  may  be  duplexed,  so  that,  as  in  Van  Rysselbergh’s 
system,  a double  use  may  be  made  of  each  wire.  Both  telegraph  circuit  and  phonic 
circuit  are  operated  by  Morse  operators  in  the  usual  way. 

Parker’s  Stenograph  Telegraph : 

By  means  of  this  system  a few  simple  stenographic  characters  are  said  to  be  trans- 
mitted and  recorded  \\  ith  great  rapidity. 


Appendix  F. 

AS  TO  THE  CONSTITUTIONALITY  OF  POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

The  decisions  or  notes  of  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  re-  ’ 
lation  to  the  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  telegraphs  under  the  authority  conferred^ 
by‘  the  clause  of  the  Constitution  authorizing  Cougress  to  regulate  commerce  be-' 
tween  the  States  are  numerous  enough. 

The  powers  conferred  upon  Congress  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations  and^ 
among  the  several  States,  and  to  establish  post-offices  and  post  roads,  are  not  con-  * 
fined  to  the  instrumentalities  of  commerce  or  of  the  postal  service  known  or  in  use  i 
when  the  Constitution  was  adopted,  but  keep  pace  with  the  progress  of  the  country,  : 
and  adapt  themselves  to  the  new  developments  of  time  and  circumstances.  ; 

They  were  intended  for  the  government  of  the  business  to  which  they  relate  at  all  ^ 
times  and  under  all  circumstances;  and  it  is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of] 
Congress  to  take  care  that  intercourse  among  the  States  and  the  transmission  of  in- 1 
telligence  are  not  obstructed  or  unnecessarily  encumbered  by  State  legislation.  { 

The  act  of  Congress  approved  July  24,  1866  (14  Stat.,  221,  Rev.  Stat.,  sec.  5263  ei 
seq.),  entitled  ^‘An  act  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  telegraph  lines,  and  to  secure  to ; 
the  Government  the  use  of  the  same  for  postal,  military,  and  other  purposes,”  so  far  ' 
as  it  declares  that  the  erection  of  telegraph  lines  shall,  as  against  interference,  be^ 
free  to  all  who  accept  its  terms  and  conditions,  and  that  a telegraph  company  of  one  - 
State  shall  not,  after  accepting  them,  be  excluded  by  another  State  from  prosecuting^ 
its  business  within  her  jurisdiction,  is  a legitimate  regulation  of  commercial  inter-, 
course  among  t he  States,  and  is  appropriate  legislation  to  execute  the  powers  of  Con- 
gress over  the  postal  service.  (Pensacola  Tel.  Co.  rs.  West,  etc.,  Tel.  Co.,  96  U.  S.,  1.). 

The  telegraph  is  an'  instrument  of  commerce,  subject  to  the  regulating  power  of 
Congress.  (VV.  U.  Tel.  Co.  vs.  Texas,  105  U.  S.,  460;  Ratterman  W.  U.  Tel.  Co.,. 
127  U.  S.,  59;  W.  U.  Tel.  Co.  vs.  Seay,  governor  of  Alabama,  132  U.  S.,  472.) 

Intercourse  by  telegraph  betv  een  the  States  is  interstate  commerce.  (W.  U.  Tel.^ 
Co.  vs.  Pendleton,  122  U.  S.,  347.) 

State  legislation  compelling  electric  wires  in  the  streets  of  a city  to  be  placed  under 
the  surface  of  the  streets,  although  such  streets,  being  letter-carrier  routes,  are  all 
post  roads,  is  an  exercise  of  police  power,  and  is  not  an  unlawful  attempt  to  regulate 
commerce  or  an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  a telegraph  company  as  a business  agency 
of  the  General  Government  under  the  act  of  Congress  of  July  24,  1866  (U.  S.  Rev.' 
Stat.,  title  65),  to  operate  its  lines  “on  any  post  road  of  the  United  States.” 

The  opinion  in  the  case  of  McCulloch  against  the  State  of  Maryland  (4  Wheaton,'^ 
316),  which  has  been  followed  by  that  court  and  by  all  other  courts  ever  since  it  was 
promulgated,  governs  this  whole  question.  What  Chief-Justice  Marshall  said  in 
regard  to  the  implied  powers  of  Congress  under  the  welffire  clause  of  the  Constitution 
applies  with  as  much  force  to  the  building  of*telegraph  lines  and  the  construction  of 
railroads  as  to  the  creation  of  a bank.  In  1 Hare’s  American  Constitutional  Law,  pages 
111.248,  and  249,  is  a statement  of  that  author  as  to  the  right  of  Congress  to  build 
“ high  roads”  and  railroads  ; and  Cougress  has  without  question  both  built  and  con-* 
tributed  to  the  building  of  canals,  to  say  nothing  about  its  contribution  to  the  seV] 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


147 


eral  transcontineutal  lines,  wliicli  included  the  building  and  maintaining  of  telegraph 
lines. 

Senate  bill  208,  Fifty-first  Congress,  first  session,  was  iniroduced  by  Senator  Spooner, 
of  Wisconsin,  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Interstate  Commerce,  and  favorably  re- 
ported by  Senator  Cullom,  of  Illinois,  the  chairman,  to  the  Senate.  It  is  “A  bill  to 
regulate  commerce  carried  on  by  telegraph.”  The  second,  third,  fourth,  and  fifth 
sections  say : 

“That  all  charges  made  for  telegraph  service,  in  the  receiving,  transmission,  and 
delivery  of  messages,  shall  be  reasonable  and  just,  and  every  unreasonable  charge 
for  any  such  service  is  prohibited  and  declared  to  be  unlawful. 

“ That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  telegraph  company,  subject  to  the  provisions  of 
this  act,  to  give  any  unreasonable  preference  or  advantage  to  any  particular  person, 
company,  firm,  corporation,  or  locality,  or  class  of  business,  in  any  respect  whatever, 
or  to  subject  any  particular  person,  company,  firm,  corporation,  locality,  or  class  of 
business  to  any  unreasonable  discrimination  or  disadvantage,  in  any  respect  what- 
ever, or  to  charge  any  more  for  a shorter  than  for  a longer  distance  over  the  same  line. 
Every  such  telegraph  cojiipany  shall  afford  etpial  facilities  for  the  receiving,  forward- 
ing, transmitting,  and  delivering  of  messages  to  and  from  their  several  lines  and  those 
connecting  therewith,  and  shall  not  discriminate  in  their  rates  and  charges  between 
such  connecting  lines. 

“ That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  such  telegraph  company  to  enter  into  any  con- 
tract, agreement,  or  combination  with  any  competing  telegraph  company  or  com- 
panies to  divide  between  them  the  aggregate  or  net  proceeds  of  the  earnings  of  such 
companies  upon  their  respective  lines,  or  any  portions  thereof. 

“ That  it  shall  be  unlawful  for  any  telegraph  company,  directly  or  indirectly,  by 
any  special  rate,  rebate,  drawback,  or  other  device  or  contrivance,  to  charge  demand, 
collect,  or  receive  from  any  person  or  persons,  corporation  or  corporations,  a greater 
or  less  compensation  for  any  service,  rendered  or  to  be  rendered,  iu  the  transmission 
of  messages,  subject  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  than  it  charges,  demands,  collects, 
or  receives  from  any  other  person  or  persons,  corporation  or  corporations,  for  doing  for 
him  or  them  a like  and  contemporaneous  service  ; but  nothing  in  this  act  shall  be  con- 
strued as  prohibiting  any  telegraj)!!  company  from  receiving,  transmitting,  and  deliver- 
ing messages  for  the  United  States,  or  for  any  State  or  municipal  corporations,  or  for 
the  press,  intended  for  publication  as  news,  at  lower  rates  than  are  at  the  same  time 
chargedfor  social,  business,  and  other  messages,  but  no  such  company  shall  discrimi- 
nate between  the  publishers  of  newspapers  by  allowing  terms  or  advantages  to  one  or 
more  newspapers  for  alike  and  contemporaneous  service  which  are  not  allowed  to  other 
newspapers  in  any  city,  towu,  or  place  where  there  is,  or  may  be,  a telegraph  office 
from  which  such  messages  may  be  dropped.” 

The  members  of  the  Senate  Committee  on  Interstate  Commerce  are  Senators  Cul- 
lom, Platt,  Blair,  Wilson,  Hiscock,  Harris,  Gorman,  Reagan,  and  Barbour. 

The  postal  telegraph  discussions  before  Congress  have  elicited  many  undisputed 
opinions  as  to  the  constitutionaliLy  of  postal  telegraphy. 

Mr.  Gardiner  G.  Hubbard  said  before  the  House  Committee  on  Appropriations  on 
April  21,  1874 : 

“The  post-office  is  established  for  the  general  convenience  of  all  classes  in  every 
section  of  the  Union.  The  people  are  more  immediately,  constantlj",  and  directly  in- 
terested in  the  operations  of  the  Post-Office  Department  than  in  those  of  the  other 
Departments.  Every  one  enjoys  the  privileges  or  partakes  of  the  benefits  of  the  Post- 
Office,  while  the  amount  expended  on  postage  is  felt  as  a tax  by  no  one. 

“Not  only  does  the  Constitution  grant  to  Congress  exclusive  control  over  the  Post- 
Office,  but  the  laws  of  the  United  States  in  execution  of  this  power  forbid  any  private 
person  from  carrying  letters  for  hire. 

“The  Constitution  is  a mere  enumeration  of  powers,  and  does  not  prescribe  the 
means  by  which  they  shall  be  executed.  Our  forefathers  forsaw  that  important  in- 
ventions would  be  made,  and  that  the  means  then  in  use  for  carrying  on  the  opera- 
tions of  the  Army,  Navy,  and  Post-Office  would  be  succeeded  by  others  ; that  progress 
was  certain,  and  therefore  changes  must  take  place  from  time  to  time,  and  the 
agencies  to  be  employed  by  the  several  Departments  could  not  be  prescribed  by  any 
immutable  law. 

“The  Army,  the  Navy,  and  the  Post-Office  have  each  adopted  the  inventions  which 
the  application  of  steam  has  brought  into  geueral  use,  but  while  the  Army  and  the 
Navy  use  the  telegraph  iu  various  ways,  the  Post  Office  has  never  availed  itself 
of  this  the  most  useful  of  all  inventions  for  speediug  the  trausmission  of  correspond- 
ence. 

“The  Post-Office  is  established  for  the  reception  and  delivery  of  correspondence  ; 
post- roads  for  its  transmission  The  earliest  law  upon  the  subject  provides  for  the 
transmission  of  letters  and  pacquets  through  the  mails,  and  subsequent  laws  for  letters, 
newspapers,  books,  pamphlets,  and  postal-cards. 

“ Letters  and  newspapers  are  sent  for  the  purpose  of  conveying  information  be- 


148 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


\ 


tween  x>ersoiis  separated  from  each  other,  and  for  this  object  the  Post-Office  was 
established.  Whenever  new  means  have  been  devised  for  facilitating  the  perform- 
ance of  its  duties  they  have  been  adopted.  Steam-boats  and  railroads  were  unknown 
to  our  fathers;  but  they  are  used  for  the  transmission  of  correspondence,  and  carry 
more  than  half  of  all  mail-matter.  It  is  not  only  within  the  power,  but  the  duty,  of 
Congress  to  adopt  all  such  instrumentalities  as  will  facilitate  the  work  of  the  Post- 
Office  and  remier  it  more  useful  to  the  people.  The  telegram  performs  the  same  offices 
as  the  letter  and  newspax)er,  and  differs  from  them  only  in  the  method  of  transmis- 
sion.” 

Mr.  J.  C.  Reiff,  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Railroads,  February  1.3, 1879,  said  : 

“It  will  be  remembered  that  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  July  24, 1866,  entitled 
‘ An  act  to  aid  in  the  construction  of  telegraph  Hues,’ etc.,  was  originally  intended  to 
cover  a special  charter  to  the  National  Telegraph  Company,  but  upon  the  eve  of  its 
jiassage  by  the  Senate,  it  was  converted  into  a general  law;  hence,  as  the  special 
advantages  and  rights  to  be  conferred  by  the  act  were  of  general  application  so  far 
as  telegraph  companies  were  concerned,  the  incentive  to  investment  in  the  National 
Telegraph  Company  was  taken  away.  Had  the  act  of  1866  been  originally  framed 
as  a general  law,  it  can  not  be  doubted  that  inquiry  would  have  been  made  into  the 
status  of  railroads  and  their  necessary  telegraph  system,  so  that  whatever  public 
advantage  might  have  been  served  by  making  the  law  applicable  to  all  owners  of 
telegraph  lines,  instead  of  limiting  it  to  telegraph  companies,  would  certainly  and 
naturally  have  been  provided  for.  In  other  words  the  technical  omission  of  railroad 
companies  in  the  act  originally  was  an  inadvertence,  and  yet  to  amend  the  existing 
law,  now  known  as  Title  65  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  by  simply  incorporating  the 
words  railroad,  or  so  as  to  read  any  railroad  or  telegraph  company  now  organized,  etc.,  'I 
would  make  the  statute  incougruous.  Therefore  the  propriety  of  a corrective  bill  like 
Senate  bill  1093.  ' 

“The  United  States  Supreme  Court,  in  the  Pensacola  telegraph  case,  reported  in  i 
6 Otto,  page  1,  having  broadly  affirmed  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  of  July  24,  i 
b^66,  further  insists  that  the  telegraiih  is  such  an  important  instrument  of  interstate 
commerce  as  to  place  it  peculiarly  under  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  Congress,  etc.,  ' 
and  says  : ‘It  is  not  only  the  right  but  duty  of  Congress  to  see  to  it  that  intercourse  ' 
among  the  States  and  the  transmission  of  intelligence  are  not  obstructed.^  ^ 

•*  This  decision  was  rendered  in  a case  raised  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Corn- 
])auy,  seeking  the  shelter  of  the  very  act  which  it  has  persistently  op^msed  when  urged 
in  favor  of  other  telegraphic  companies,  although  the  Western  Union  Company  ac-  ' 
cepted  its  provisions  by  tiling  the  necessary  j)apers  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.”  . 

Mr.  Reiff  said  further,  quoting  an  opinion  of  Hon.  Reverdy  Johnson,  then  Assist- 
ant  Attorney-General,  dated  April  6,  1874,  and  given  to  General  Myer,  Chief  Signal  J 
Officer,  as  to  the  constitutionality  of  the  act  of  July  24,  1866,  and  the  rights  of  the  J 
Government  and  the  AVestern  Union  Telegraj)!!  Comiiany  thereunder:  | 

“These  power.s,  like  all  others  vested  in  Congress,  unless  they  are  expressly  re-  t 
stricted  by  some  other  provision  in  the  Constitution,  are,  by  their  very  nature,  un-  , 
limited  in  regard  to  the  subjects  with  which  they  deal.  It  is,  we  know,  an  historic  v 
truth  that  such  regulations,  more  tban  any  other  one  cause,  led  to  the  adoption  of  ; 
the  Constitution.  * q_’he  theory  of  the  Constitution — and  all  the  powers 

with  which  Congress  is  clothed  are  in  accordance  with  that  theory — is  that  every; 
power  which  could  not  be  exercised  by  the  States  separately  should  be  vested  in 
Congress.  The  object  of  the  convention  was  to  establish  a government  for  a great  ' 
nation,  and  was,  of  course,  to  repose  in  it  every  authority  necessary  to  attain  that 
result  and  to  secure  union  and  harmony  at  home  as  well  as  peace  abroad.  In  relation  , 
to  the  {lowers  so  conferred,  the  Supreme  Court  has  over  and  over  again  declared  that/"' 
they  are  to  be  construed  as  if  there  were  no  State  governments,  and  quotes  the  lan- 
guage of  Chief  Justice  Marshall  in  the  case  of  McCulloch  vs.  Maryland,  4 Wheaton, 
406 : ■ r 

“ ‘If  any  jiroposition  could  command  the  universal  consent  of  mankind  we  might /' 
expect  it  would  be  this,  that  the  Government  of  the  Union,  though  limited  in  its-j 
liowers,  is  supreme  in  its  sphere  of  action;  ^ * it  is  the  government  of  all;  its* 

}>owtus  are  delegated  by  all ; it  represents  all ; and  acts  for  all.'  J 

“Every  power  incidental  to  those  exiiressly  granted  is  as  much  granted  as  the  ex-J 
pressly  granted  power;  ^ * nor  in  the  exercise  of  rhe  incidental  powers  whichl 

Congress  possesses  are  they  limited  to  the  use  of  the  means  known  to  exist  at  the  date's 
of  the  Constitution  ; ^ ^ whatever,  therefore,  is  commerce  among  the  States  maV; 

be  n'gnlated  by  Congress  as  well  as  whatever  is  commerce  with  foreign  nations.  What, 
then,  is  commerce  as  the  term  is  here  used  ? Is  it  traflic  alone,  or  is  it  not  also  inter- 
course and  the  means  by  which  traflic  and  intercourse  may  be  carried  on  ? And  refers; 
to  the  Supreme  Court  (lecision  in  the  case  of  Gibbous  vs.  Ogden,  9 Wheaton,  page 
1 : " * Whatever,  therefore,  is  a regulation  by  Congress  and  tends  to  accomplisli 

the  end  for  which  the  power  was  given,  must  be  constitutional.  No  authority  claimed 
by  any  State  in  coullict  with  it  has  any  validity.  Nothing  that  a State  can  do  by 

( 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


149 


I legislation  or  otLerwise  can  in  the  slightest  degree  limit  the  power.  * * * 

(jnotes  again  from  McCulloch  rslMaryland,  4 Wheaton,  wherein  the  court  says,  ‘ Let 
the  end  be  legit  mate;  let  it  be  within  the  scone  of  the  Constitution,  and  all  means 
which  are  appropriate,  which  are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  which  are  not  in’o- 
hibited  but  consistent  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  are  constitu- 
tional.’ 

This. discretion  belonging  to  Congress,  the  manner  of  exercising  it  is  for  them 
to  decide.  The  object  of  the  act  of  July  24,  1866,  as  declared  in  its  title,  is  to  secure 
to  the  Government  the  use  of  the  telegraph  lines  ‘for  postal,  military  and  other 
purposes.’  ” 

On  January  17,  1884,  Senator  Edmunds,  of  Vermont,  said  before  the  Senate  Com- 
mittee on  Post-Olfices  and  Post-Roads,  discussing  postal  telegraph  bills  introduced 
by  Senator  Dawes,  of  Massachusetts,  Senator  Hill,  of  Colorado,  and  himself: 

“ I am  perfectly  satisfied  that  Congress  has  the  constitutional  power  to  do  what  is 
proposed,  and  in  any  of  the  forms  that  are  proposed  under  several  constitutional 
heads — commerce,  war,  post-office,  and  I might  add  finance — on  the  same  principle 
that  the  Supreme  Court  held  that  the  old  national  bank  law  was  constitutional, 
although  all  that  the  Constitution  said  was  that  Congress  might  borrow  money,  might 
have  a Treasury  Department,  and  might  levy  taxes,  and  therefore  presumably  Con- 
gress must  have  the  power  to  provide  the  means  to  cairy  on  the  fiscal  operations  of  the 
Government.  If  a bank  was  thought  by  Congress  to  be  wise  for  that  purpose,  it  was 
constitutional.  So  I think  that  the  constitutional  question  is  beyond  the  range  of 
fair  dispute,  and  I do  not  wish  to  take  any  of  your  time  u])()n  that  point.” 

Congressman  Charles  A.  Sumner,  of  California,  said  before  the  House  Committee 
on  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads,  on  March  25,  1884  : 

“ I lay  it  down  as  a proposition  that  I want  to  have  duly  considered  by  this  Com- 
mittee and  the  country — that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  "interpreted 
by  a century  of  unchallenged  legislation,  does  imperatively  require  that  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  shall  establish  a postal  system.  I lay  it  down  as  a fundamental 
proposition  that  the  postal  telegraph  is  a part  of  the  postal  system  of  the  Govern- 
ment; the  postal  system  ofdhe  United  States  having  been  established  for  the  purpose 
of  transmitting  intelligence  between  the  inhabitants  of  the  land.” 

Senator  Hill,  of  Colorado,  said.  May  27,  1884,  in  a report  written  for  the  Committee 
on  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads  : 

“The  constitutional  right  of  this  Government  to  establish  a postal  telegraph,  under 
its  power  to  establish  yrost  offices  and  post-roads,  seems  too  clear  to  require  argument. 
It  has  always  been  recognized,  and  the  first  telegrairhic  line  in  this  country  was  con- 
structed aud  operated  and  owned  by  the  United  States,  and  many  military  lines  are 
now  in  operation.  In  all  European  countries,  the  business  of  telegraphing  is  man- 
aged by  the  public  authorities.  The  war  power  aud  the  power  to  regulate  commerce 
between  the  states  are  sometimes  invoked,  aud  may  be  fairly  invoked,  as  also  justi- 
I'yiug  this  Government  in  establishing  a postal  telegraph,  but  the  power  to  estab- 
lish post-offices  and  post  roads  is  of  itself  abundantly  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  A 
practical  construction  long  ago  extended  it  to  modes  of  communication  not  known 
when  the  Constitution  was  formed,  such  as  steam-boats  and  railroads,  and  there  can 
be  no  difficulty  in  extending  it  to  other  modes  Since  discovered,  such  as  the  telegraph 
aud  the  telephone.  ” 


Appendix  G. 

QUOTATIONS  FROM  REPORTS  OF  POSTMASTERS-GENERAL  TOUCHING 
POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

[Hon.  Cave  Johnson;  Doc.  No.  2,  p.  860;  December  1,  1845.] 

The  electro-magnetic  telegraph,  in  vented  by  Professor  Morse  and  put  into  opera- 
Jon  between  the  cities  of  Washington  and  Baltimore,  under  appropriations  made  by 
Jongress,  was  placed  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Postmaster-General  by  a 
danse  in  one  of  the  appropriation  acts  of  the  3d  of  March  last.  It  had  been  in  use  the 
previous  year  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  bufhad  been  cou- 
lucted  more  with  reference  to  the  testing  of  its  capabilities,  and  such  experiments  as 
rended  to  perfect  and  improve  its  operations.  Having  been  f ransferrcd  to  the  Post- 
Jffice  Department,  I at  once  adopted  regulations  to  bring  it  into  constant  service  as 
i means  of  transmitting  intelligence,  accessible  to  all,  and  prescribed  the  rates  of 
)ostage.  The  copy  of  the  order,  which  accompanies  this  report,  marked  No.  11,  will 
ihow  the  regulations  and  the  rates  of  postage  adopted.  One-half  of  the  rates  of  post- 


150 


POSTAL  tei,j;graph  facilities. 


age  suggested  by  Professor  Morse  was  adopted  by  me,  under  the  hope  that  it  would 
greatly  increase  its  revenues.  It  went  into  operation  on  the  1st  r.f  April,  having  ex- 
pended $6S0. 15  before  the  charge  of  postage  com inenc-^d.  From  the  1st  of  A])ril  to 
the  1st  of  October  the  exiieuditures  amounted  to  $3,244,99,  making  the  whole  expendi- 
ture $.3,925.14,  whilst  the  revenues  for  the  six  months  amounted  to  the  S)im  of  $413.44. 

I deem  it  my  duty  to  bring  to  yonr  notice  the  fact  that  the  subject  of  telegraphic 
coinmnnicatious,  in  their  fullest  extent,  as  made  available  by  means  of  this  extraor- 
dinary invention,  is  forcing  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  public.  The  proprie- 
tors of  the  patent  securing  the  exclusive  use  of  the  telegraph,  have,  since  the  last 
Congress,  taken  the  most  active  measures  to  establish  lines  of  communication  be- 
tween the  principal  cities  of  the  Union.  Their  success  will  introduce  a means  of 
communicating  intelligence  amply  sufftcieut  for  a great  variety  of  purposes,  and 
greatly  superior  in  dispatch  to  those  of  the  juiblic  mails,  and  must  secure  to  itself 
much  of  the  business  that  has  heretofore  been  transacted  through  them,  and,  to  that 
extent,  diminish  the  revenues  of  the  Department. 

It  becomes,  then,  a question  of  great  importance  how  far  the  Government  will  allow 
individuals  to  divide  with  it  the  business  of  transmitting  intelligeuce — an  important 
duty  confided  to  it  by  the  Constitution,  necessarily  and  properly  exclusive?  Or  v-ill 
it  purchase  the  telegraph  and  conduct  its  operations  for  the  benefit  of  the  public? 
Experience  teaches  that  if  individual  enterpiise  is  allowed  to  perform  such  portions 
of  the  business  of  the  Government  as  it  may  find  for  its  advantage,  the  Government 
will  soon  be  left  to  perform  unprofitable  portions  of  it  only,  and  must  be  driven  to 
abandon  it  entirely  or  carry  it  on  at  a heavy  tax  upon  the  public  treasury.  In  the 
hands  of  individuals  or  associations,  the  telegraph  may  become  the  most  potent  in- 
strument the  world  ever  knew  to  effect  sudden  and  large  speculations — to  rob  the 
many  of  their  just  advantages,  and  concentrate  them  upon  the  few.  If  permitted  by 
the  Government  to  be  thus  lield,  the  public  can  have  no  security  that  it  will  not  be 
wielded  for  their  injury  rather  than  their  benefit.  The  operation  of  the  telegraph 
between  this  city  and  Baltimore  has  not  satisfied  me  that  under  any  rate  of  postage 
that  can  be  adopted  its  revenues  can  be  made  to  equal  its  expenditures.  Its  im- 
portance to  the  public  does  not  consist  in  any  probable  income  that  can  ever  be  de- 
rived from  it ; but  as  an  agent  vastly  superior  to  any  other  ever  devised  by  the  genius  ^ 
of  man  for  the  diffusion  of  knowledge,  which  maybe  accomplished  with  almost  the 
rapidity  of  light  to  any  part  of  the  republic,  its  value  in  all  commercial  transactions, 
to  individuals  having  the  control  of  it,  or  to  the  Government  in  time  of  war,  could  not  , ' 
be  estimated.  The  use  of  an  instrument  so  powerful  for  good  or  for  evil  can  not  with  ( 
safety  to  the  j)eoj)le  be  left  in  the  hands  of  j)rivate  individuals  uncontrolled  by  law.  i 

[Hon.  Cave  Johnson;  page  683;  December  7,  1846. ] 

The  telegraph  between  this  city  and  Baltimore  has  been  kept  regularly  in  operation  f 
until  the  1st  of  December.  A statement  of  the  income  and  expenditures  from  the  i 
time  it  was  placed  under  the  control  of  the  department  is  herewith  communicated  | 
marked  D.  j 

Under  the  authority  given  at  the  last  session  of  Congress  an  arrangement  has  been  | 
made  with  Messrs.  Vail  and  Rogers,  tli^  principal  officers  having  charge  of  it,  by  V ' 
which  the  line  will  be  kept  up  until  the  4th  of  March  next  for  its  profits  and  without  J ■ 
further  calls  upon  the  Treasury.  i 

In  my  last  annual  communication  I brought  to  your  notice  this  extraordinary  f _ 
invention  of  Professor  Morse  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence;  its  importance  in  ; . 
all  commercial  transactions  to  tho.se  having  the  control  of  it ; and  to  the  Government  j 
itself,  particularly  in  a period  of  war.  I then  expre.ssed  the  opinion  that  an  iustru-  j ^ 
ment  so  powerful  for  good  or  for  evil  could  not  with  safety  to  the  citizen  be  per-  >> 
mitted  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  individuals  uncontrolled  by  law.  Another  year’s  f i 
experience  gives  additional  weight  to  the  opinions  then  expressed.  t !j 

Telegraphic  lines  have  been  established  from  New  York  to  Boston,  Buft'alo,  Phila-  ] 
delphia,  Baltimore,  and  Washington  City  ; and  others  are  in  contemplation  from  this  y'j 
city  south  and  from  Buffalo  west,  and  will  be  extended  to  the  principal  cities  of  the  f i 
Union  in  a few  years.  It  now  miables  tho.se  controlling  it  to  transmit  intelligence  Is 
instantaneously  between  the  different  cities  where  it  has  been  established,  and  to  the  T| 
important  commercial  points  in  the  South  and  West  several  days  in  advance  of  the  «| 
mails.  The  evils  which  the  community  may  suffer,  or  the  benefit  which  individuals 
may  derive  from  the  ])o.ssession  of  such  an  instrument,  under  the  control  of  private 
associations  or  incorporated  companies  not  controlled  by  law,  can  not  be  overesti- 
mated.  .8 

I may  further  add  that  the  Department,  created  under  the  Constitution  and  designed  1 
to  exercise  exclusive  power  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence,  must  necessarily  be  j 
superseded  in  much  of  its  most  important  business  in  a few  years,  if  the  telegraph  be  J| 
l>ermitted  to  remain  under  the  control  of  individuals.  It  is  the  settled  conviction  of  '3 
the  undersigned  that  the  public  interest  as  well  as  the  safety  of  the  citizen  requires 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


151 


that  the  Government  shonld  get  the  exclusive  control  of  it  by  purchase,  or  that  its  use 
should  be  subjected  to  the  restraints  of  law.  Entertaining  these  opinions,  I addressed 
a letter  to  the  president  of  the  association  owning  the  patent  right,  to  ascertain  as  far 
practicable  the  probable  cost,  if  Congress  should  be  inclined  to  make  the  purchase. 
A copy  of  the  reply  is  herewith  c.ommunicated,  marked  E. 

The  association  is  willing  to  dispose  of  the  right  to  the  Government,  but  is  unwilling 
to  enter  into  any  negotiation  upon  the  subject  without  authority  first  given  by  Con- 
gress. I also  caused  inquiries  to  be  made  from  the  best  sources  of  information  as  to 
the  cost  of  construction,  the  expense  of  keeping  up  the  lines,  the  profits,  and  the 
capability  of  such  lines  for  the  transmission  of  intelligence.  I have  received  replies 
giving  minute  and  detailed  statements  upon  the  subjects  referred  to,  which  remain 
on  the  files  of  the  Department  for  the  use  of  Congress,  should  they  be  deemed 
necessary. 

[Hon.  Alex.  W.  Randall;  page  31;  November  26,  1867.] 

The  subject  of  connecting  the  telegraphic  system  of  the  country  with  the  postal 
service  has  attracted  public  attention,  and  it  received  to  some  extent  the  considera- 
tion of  my  predecessor.  It  has  recently  transpired  that  the  telegraphic  system  of 
Great  Britain  has  been  put  in  charge  of  the  British  post-office  department.  It  is  a 
matter  of  very  great  importance  and  its  propriety  and  practicability  ought  to  be 
thoroughly  investigated  by  Congress.  The  most  efficient  mode  of  examination  of  the 
subject,  in  my  judgment,  would  be  the  appointment  of  a special  commission  to  inquire 
into  the  working  of  the  new  arrangement  in  Great  Britain,  and  into  its  feasibility  in 
the  United  States,  and  report  to  Congress  for  such  action  as  may  be  wisely  taken. 

[Hon.  Alex.  W.  Randall;  page  36;  December  3,  1868.] 

'I'he  subject  of  connecting  the  postal  service  with  the  magnetic  telegraph  is  one 
deserving  the  special  attention  of  Congress.  An  independent  report  on  the  subject 
will  be  prepared  and  submitted  for  consideration  at  an  early  day. 

[Hon.  John  A.  J.  Creswell;  page  37 ; November  15,  1869.] 

My  predecessor  addressed  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  a letter, 
under  date  of  9th  January  last,  in  relation  to  the  postal  telegraph,  inclosing  an  elab- 
orate communication  on  the  same  subject  from  Gardner  G.  Hubbard,  esq.,  of  Boston. 
This  is  a subject  of  great  importance,  and  deserves  the  most  careful  consideration. 
Several  European  nations  have  adopted  the  system  with  apparent  success.  I shall 
defer  making  any  recommendation  concerning  it  until  a greater  degree  of  efficiency 
can  be  attained  in  the  postal  service  as  at  present  constituted. 

[Hon.  John  A.  J.  Creswell;  pages  33,  34,  35,  and  36;  November  18,  1871.] 

The  postal  telegraph  is  by  far  the  most  important  subject  now  inviting  considera- 
tion in  connection  with  the  transmission  and  interchange  of  intelligence.  The  gov- 
ernments of  the  continental  countries  of  Europe  have,  with  few  exceptions,  claimed 
and  exercised  for  years  past  the  right  of  controlling  and  managing  the  electric  tele- 
graph, and  in  every  instance  with  a degree  of  success  commensurate  with  the  care 
and  attention  bestowed  upon  their  respective  administrations.  In  Sweden,  Norway, 
Russia,  Bavaria,  Italy,  Turkey,  Greece,  and  Spain,  great  advantages  have  been 
gained  by  making  the  telegraph  a part  of  the  public  x)ostal  system  ; while  in  Switzer- 
land, Beigium,  the  Netherlands,  Prussia,  and  France,  where  modern  appliances  and 
improvements  have  been  more  thoroughly  utilized,  the  policy  of  governmental  control 
has  been  fully  vindicated.  It  remained  for  Great  Britain  to  give  a practical  test  of 
the  public  system  as  compared  with  the  management  of  corporations  and  companies 
of  private  stockholders.  After  a protracted  and  most  laborious  investigation.  Parlia- 
ment passed,  on  July  31,  1868,  “An  act  to  enable  Her  Majesty’s  postmaster-general 
to  acquire,  work,  and  maintain  electric  telegraphs,”  which  was  followed  on  August 
9,  1869,  by  an  act  providing  the  money  necessary  to  purchase  the  undertakings  of 
the  several  telegraph  companies  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  On  the  5th  of  Febru- 
aiy,  1870,  the  transfers  were  effected,  and  the  work  of  the  postal  telegraph  began. 
At  first,  serious  difficulties  were  encountered  by  reason  of  the  delay  in  passing  the 
money  bill  and  the  inadequate  preparations  to  accommodate  the  immense  increase  of 
busine.ss  which  immediately  followed  the  large  reduction  of  rates. 

These  difficulties,  however,  were  soon  overcome,  and  thanks  to  the  indefatigable 
and  intelligent  labors  of  Hon.  Frank  Ives  Scudamore,  second  secretary,  and  hisassist- 
, ants,  the  advocates  of  the  measure  can  already  boast  of  its  triumphant  success.  The 
I charges  established  in  the  beginning  were  uniform  throughout  the  United  Kingdom, 

[ without  regard  to  distance,  and  were  fixed  at  the  maximum  permitted  by  law,  that  is 


152 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


to  say,  1 shilling  (24  cents)  for  tlie  first  twenty  words  or  part  of  twenty  words,  and  3 pence  ^ 
(6  cents)  for  each  additional  five  words  or  part  of  five  words,  exclusive  of  signature  i 
and  address.  Referring  to  an  elaborate  report  of  Mr.  Scudamore,  it  appears  that  the  J 
average  cost  of  inland  messages  was  about  1 shilling  1 penny  (26  cents),  against  an  i 
average  cost  prior  to  the  transfer  of  1 shilling  7 pence  (3'^  cents),  showing  a reduction 
in  price  of  nearly  one-third.  In  the  first  week  after  the  transfer,  the  number  of  rues- 
sages  (exclusive  of  news  and  press  messages)  forwarded  from  all  stations  was  12':^,872  ; i 
in  the  week  ending  31st  of  March,  the  number  had  risen  to  160,775.  The  average  - 
weekly  number  in  thirteen  weeks  to  30th  of  June  was  177,410  ; the  average  number 
in  thirteen  weeks  to  3l8t  of  December  was  203,572.  In  the  week  ending  31st  of  De-  ^ 
cember,  which  is  usually  considered  the  worst  week  in  the  year  for  telegraphic  work, 
the  number  was  144,041,  or  nearly  16,000  in  excess  of  the  number  of  the  first  week. 
The  total  number  of  messages  forwarded  in  the  three  quarters,  to  31st  of  December,  ' 


1870,  was  as  follows : j 

In  quarter  to  30th  of  June 2,  306,  310 

In  quarter  to  30th  of  September 2,  610,  237  , 

In  quarter  to  31st  of  December 2,646,  438  I 



In  three  quarters 7,563,015  j 


In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  ample  provision  was  made  for  the  press  and  news  j 
work.  The  companies  before  the  transfer  sent  news  to  306  subscribers  in  144  towns  | 
only  in  the  United  Kingdom  ; the  postal  telegraph  sent  news  to  1,106  subscribers  in 
365  towns.  The  companies  sent  news  to  173  newspapers  only  ; the  postal  telegraph 
sent  news  to  467  newspapers  : showing  an  increase  of  221  in  the  number  of  towns  to 
which  uew's  was  sent,  an  increase  of  800  in  the  total  number  of  subscribers  for  news, 
and  an  increase  of  294  in  the  number  of  newspapers  taking  news.  There  was,  more- 
over a vast  increase  in  the  quantity  of  news  transmitted.  The  companies  sent,  during  i 
the  session  of  Parliament,  nearly  6,000  words  of  news  daily  ; during  the  remainder 
of  the  year,  they  sent  nearly  4,000  words  daily.  The  postal  telegraph  sent,  during 
the  session  of  Parliament,  in  behalf  of  the  news  associations,  nearly  20,000  wmrds  ] 
of  new's  daily  ; and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  nearly  15,000  words  daily.  The 
postal  telegraph  also  transmitted  15,000  to  20,000  words  daily  for  the  ordinary  news-  | 
paper  correspondents ; and  seven  newspapers  rented  special  wires  during  the  night  j 
at  the  uniform  rate  of  £500,  instead  of  rates  ranging  from  £750  to  £1,000,  as  before,  i 
The  other  wires  w^ere  about  to  be  rented  to  newspaper  projirietors  at  the  close  of  ] 
the  year,  and  many  more  could  have  been  rented  if  the  Department  could  have  j 
spared  them.  There  has  been  doubtless  a still  further  increase  of  messages  during  j 
the  current  year.  By  an  olficial  statement  received  from  the  British  office,  the  num-  | 
her  of  messages  for  the  week  ended  September  23,  1871,  is  shown  to  be  256,456,  | 
against  189,636  for  the  corresponding  week  of  last  year.  This  increase  for  a single  4 
week  of  66,820,  averaged  through  the  year,  would  exhibit  an  annual  increase  of  1 
3,474,640  messages.  The  financial  results  are  even  more  satisfactory.  The  official  j 
report  of  Hon.  George  Chetwyud,  receiver  and  accountant-general  of  the  British 
office,  shows  the  following  most  favorable  result  for  the  fiscal  year  ended  olst 
March  last : ' ^ 


Gross  receipts. 

Payments  out.  [Net  produce. 

Amount  received  for  the  transmission  of  telegraphic 
messages,  etc.,  in  cash 

£ s.  d. 

212, 519  5 4 4 

758,696  8 7^ 

£ s.  d.  £ s.  d. 

Amount  received  for  the  transmission  of  telegraphic 
messages,  etc.,  in  postage  stamps 

273,  281  17  3h  697,  933  16  8 

971,  215  13  11^ 

j 273,  281  17  3|  ' 697,  933  16  8 

Let  it  be  noted  that  the  net  product  is  £697,933,  or,  computing  the  pound  sterling 
at  $4.86,  $3,391,954.38. 

These  facts,  all  tending  with  overwhelming  force  in  one  direction,  demonstrate  con- 
clusively the  utility  of  the  i)ostal  telegraph  for  both  Government  and  people. 

Some  may  hesitate  to  adopt  it  in  this  country  because  of  the  great  extent  of  our 
territory,  the  paucity  of  our  population  in  certain  large  sections,  and  the  great  ex- 
pense involved  in  extinguishing  the  rights  of  telegraph  ccmpanies.  The  first  two 
are  the  same  objections  that  were  urged  for  many  years  against  all  ameliorations  of 
our  postal  sc'rvice ; nevertheless  ])ostages  have  been  cheai)eued  and  made  uniform, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  the  postal  system  has  been  maintained  and  improved.  Rightly  ■ 
viewed,  the  extent  of  the  country  is  a strong  argnment  in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph  ' 
and  the  additional  facilities  and  uniform  rates  it  will  afford.  It  is  only  in  countries 
of  large  extent  that  the  value  of  instautaueous,  or  nearly  instantaneous,  comniiinica-^ 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


153 


'tioucaD  be  appreciated.  Who  that  desires  to  convey  or  acquire  any  information 
I would  hesitate  between  sending  a telegram  from  New  York  to  California  in  seven 
i minutes  for  2U  cents  and  sending  a letter  in  seven  days  for  Scents?  Our  sparse 
population  is  rapidly  growing  more  dense  by  the  acquisition  of  one  million  and  a 
[quarter  of  people  per  annum.  As  railroads  are  extended  across  the  plains  and  through 
the  mountains  they  banish  solitude  and  reclaim  the  wilderness  with  a celerity  un- 
known to  men  of  the  last  generation.  The  emigrant  of  to-day  moves  as  part  of  an 
organized  community.  The  railroad  preserves  for  him  a channel  of  constant  supply, 
and  the  telegraph  keeps  unbroken  the  communication  between  the  new  and  the  old 
homestead.  Before  many  years  we  shall  hear  complaints,  not  that  we  have  too  much 
laud,  but  rather  that  we  have  not  land  enough.  It  is  true  that  a large  sum  of  money 
will  be  required  for  the  purchase  of  the  present  telegraph  lines  and  their  appurte- 
nances. But  if  this  be  a difficulty,  delay  only  magnifies  it ; for,  admitting  that  the 
Government  must  at  some  time  become  the  exclusive  proprietor  of  the  telegraphs,  it 
is  clear  that  every  year  will  add  to  the  amount  of  purchase-money  it  will  have  to 
pay.  The  companies  now  inexistence  will  extend  their  operations,  and  new  com- 
])auies  will  be  organized  from  time  to  time,  all  of  whom  would  demand  compensation 
for  a surrender  of  their  privileges  and  property.  1 therefore  deprecate  further  delay 
as  injurious  to  the  public  interests. 

1 The  Post-Office  Department  is  now  prepared  to  undertake  the  organization  and 
management  of  the  telegraph  in  connection  with  its  other  duties.  Indeed,  I believe 
that  the  Department  itself  can  aid  materially  in  raising  the  money  needed  for  the 
j purchase  through  post-office  savings-banks,  if  Congress  will  authorize  their  establish- 
ment. To  prove  the  feasibility  of  this  plan,  I recur  to  the  history  of  the  British  office. 
The  total  amount  in  hand  after  ten  years’  oiierations,  and  for  which  the  British  Gov- 
ierumeut  pays  only  per  cent,  interest,  is  £15,463,928,  or  $75,145,690,  a much  larger 
sum  than  will  be  required  for  the  purchase  and  thorough  repair  of  all  the  telegraph 
lines  in  the  United  States. 

Convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  establishing  the  postal  telegraph  and  post-office  savings- 
banks  in  this  country,  I earnestly  recommend  the  passage  by  Congress  of  the  laws 
necessary  therefor.  In  my  judgment  those  laws  should  provide  as  well  for  the  absolute 
.purchase  of  the  lines  and  aiipurtenances  of  all  t^elegraph  companies  now  in  operation  as 
for  the  exclusive  right  and  authority  of  the  Government  after  the  several  purchases 
shall  be  concluded  to  conduct  the  business  of  transmitting  telegraphic  messages. 

[Hon.  John  A.  J.  Creswell,  pages  27  to  44,  November  15,  1872.] 

' Grave  difficulties  have  arisen  from  time  to  time  between  the  Government  and  cer- 
tain of  the  telegraph  companies,  which  have  declined  and  still  decline  to  furnish 
such  facilities  as  are  deemed  essential  to  the  perfect  success  of  the  Signal  Service. 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPH— ITS  EARLY  ADVOCACY. 

In  my  opinion  a Government  telegraph  affords  the  only  safeguard  against  the  con- 
tinuance of  such  evils.  While  the  embarrassment  consequent  on  the  attitude  of  the 
telegraph  companies  toward  the  Government  demands  prompt  attention,  it  is  but 
one  of  the  many  considerations  which  point  to  the  adoption  of  a postal  telegraph  as 
a measure  of  immediate  public  necessity. 

When,  through  the  liberality  of  Congress,  the  first  telegraph  line  had  been  con- 
structed, and  the  partial  success  of  the  invention  dejuonstrated,  the  question  arose 
whether  the  Government  should  purchase  the  patent  or  relinquish  to  private  parties 
the  line  which  it  had  built.  The  reasons  whj^  the  Government  should  assume  con- 
trol of  this  new  means  of  transmitting  intelligence  were  forcibly  set  forth  in  various 
letters  of  the  inventor  and  in  a report  of  the  AVays  and  Means  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Representatives. 

This  report  (No.  187,  second  session  {Twenty-eighth  Congress),  after  enlarging  upon 
,the  wisdom  of  the  policy  which  led  the  founders  of  our  Government,  “ devoted  as 
'they  are  known  to  have  been  to  the  power  and  importance  of  the  States,  and  jeal- 
ously apprehensive  of  the  undue  preponderance  of  the  Federal  branch,”  to  “ engraft 
on  that  branch  a power  so  great,  so  growing,  so  penetrating  and  pervading  as  that 
of  the  post-office  system,”  and  alluding  to  the  extension  of  that  i)ower  by  the  adop- 
tion of  all  the  more  rapid  and  imiiroved  methods  of  transmission  which  had  been  in- 
troduced since  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution,  continues  : 

“ But,  though  not  anticipated  or  foreseen,  these  new  and  improved  modes  were  as 
clearly  within  the  purview  of  the  Constitution  as  were  tbe  older  and  less  perfect  ones 
with  which  our  ancestors  were  familiar.  * * * The  same  principle  which  justified 

and  demanded  the  transference  of  the  mail,  on  many  chief  routes,  from  the  horse- 
drawn  coach  oh  common  highways  to  steam-impelled  veliic.les  on  land  and  water,  is 
equally  potent  to  warrant  the  calling  of  the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  in  aid  of  the 
Post-Office  in  discharge  of  its  great  function  of  rapidly  transmitting  correspondence 
iaud  intelligence.” 


154 


POSTAL  TELEGEAph  I'ACILITIES. 


And  again  : 

‘‘Should  the  arrangements  into  which  he  (the  inventor)  may  find  it  necessary  to 
enter  with  private  individuals  or  associations  stipulate  exclusive  rights  in  their  favor, 
it  is  manifest  how  greatly  Government  and  people  would  lie  at  their  mercy.  Having 
in  their  hands  the  monopoly  of  such  a medium  of  intelligence  on  the  important  lines, 
they  could  make  such  use  of  their  advantages  over  the  Government  and  the  commu- 
nity as  would  at  length  enable  them  to  exact  their  own  terms  as  the  price  of  the  sur- 
render of  their  exclusive  right;  for  the  truth  can  not  be  too  often  repeated,  or  too 
deeply  impressed  in  relation  to  this  subject,  that  the  people  will  never  submit  long 
to  the  mischiefs  and  discredit  of  the  public  post  being  outstripped  by  any  private 
monopoly  or  establishment  whatever.  The  loss  of  revenue  will  co  operate  with  the 
complaints  and  sufferings  of  the  people  to  do  what  were  better  done  at  once,  namely, 
to  establish  the  telegraph  in  connection  with  and  as  a branch  of  the  Post-Office.’^ 

The  following  paragraph  of  the  report  must  now  be  read  with  peculiar  interest : , 

“The  committee  might  easily  add  to  the  views  and  arguments  which  they  have 
now  presented  others  of  a highly  commanding  character,  especially  those  which  re- 
late to  the  extreme  value  of  which  the  magnetic  telegraph  would  be  in  the  emergen-  i 
cies  of  war,  and  its  singular  adaptedness  to  render  our  system  of  Government  easily 
and  certainly  maintainable  over  the  immense  space  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacitic  , 
Avhich  our  territory  covers.  Doubt  has  been  entertained  by  many  patriotic  minds  J 
how  far  the  rapid,  full,  and  thorough  intercommunication  of  thought  and  intelligence  , 
so  necessary  to  a people  living  under  a common  representative  republic  could  be  ex-  ^ 
pected  to  take  ])lace  throughout  such  immense  bounds.  That  doubt  can  no  longer 
exist.  It  has  been  resolved  and  put  an  end  to  forever  by  the  triumphant  success  of 
the  electro-magnetic  telegraph  of  Professor  Morse,  as  already  tested  by  the  Govern - 
ment.” 

Owing  to  the  slowness  of  the  public  to  recognize  the  advantages  of  the  new  inven- 
tion, and  the  doubts  cast  on  the  feasibility  of  its  operation  over  long  distances,  the  ^ 
course  recommended  by  the  committee  was  not  adopted,  and  the  line,  built  and  for  ' 
some  time  maintained  at  Government  expense,  was  turned  over  to  the  holders  of  the 
patent.  Since  that  day  the  above  predictions  have  been  gradually  approaching  real- 
ization, and  many  evils,  unforseen  by  the  committee,  have  grown  up  under  corporate  ; 
management  of  the  telegraph  sj'stem. 


KIVALRY  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH  WITH  THE  MAIL. 


If  the  effects  of  rivalry  between  the  telegraph  and  the  mail  upon  the  revenues  of 
the  Post-Office  have  not  been  serious,  it  is  due  alone  to  the  liberal  management  of  the 
latter  as  compared  with  that  of  the  companies,  a management  which,  since  the  in- 
vention of  the  telegraph,  has  reduced  the  rates  of  postage  from  25  to  3 cents,  and 
increased  tenfold  the  correspondence  of  the  country.  The  natural  policy  of  private 
companies  is  to  extend  facilities  slowly  and  only  to  profitable  points,  to  let  their 
business  augment  gradually,  and  to  reap  large  profits  from  a small  number  of  messages, 
while  a Government  system,  managed  in  the  interests  of  the  people,  pursues  exactly 
the  opposite  course.  Had  the  policy  of  the  Post-Office  been  adopted  by  the  telegraph 
companies,  or  had  the  Government  held  to  the  old  rates  of  postage,  the  telegraph,  in- 
stead of  now  transmitting  one-fiftieth  part  of  the  annual  correspondence  of  the  coun- 
try (collecting  therefor  one-third  of  the  entire  ex])enseof  the  Post- Office  establishment), 
would  probably  transmit  at  least  one-tenth.  The  profits  required  of  private  enter- 
prises would  not  have  permitted  such  a course.  But  improvements  in  telegraphy 
render  it  by  no  means  certain  that  in  future  the  telegraph  will  not  to  a very  great 
extent  supersede  the  mail  as  a means  of  correspondence.  The  introduction  of  the 
duplex  transmitter,  doubling  the  capacity  of  lines  for  thro  igh  business,  and  of  the 
“fast”  or  automatic  system,  by  which  one  wire  can  be  made  to  do  the  work  of  six  ; 
the  lirobable  simplification  of  the  fac-simile  system  of  Caselli,  by  which  an  exact  copy 
of  anything  that  can  be  drawn  or  written  may  be  instantaneously  made  to  appear  at 
a distance  of  hundreds  of  miles  from  the  original,  and  the  countless  other  applica- 
tions of  electricity  to  the  transmission  of  intelligence  yet  to  be  made,  must  sooner  or 
later  interfere  most  seriously  with  the  transportation  of  letters  by  the  slower  means 
of  the  i)ost. 


1 

\ 

j 


REFECTS  AND  ABUSES  OF  THE  TELEGRAPH  UNDER  CORPORATE  MANAGEMENT. 

Meanwhile,  the  immediate  defects  and  abuses  of  the  telegraph  call  loudly  for  reform. 
The  system  has  grown  up  with  and  by  the  side  of  railroads,  and  has  naturally  directed  | 
itself  to  prolitable  and  easily-accessible  districts.  It  has  followed  the  march  of  civil- 
ization, and  not,  like  the  post-ofiice,  led  the  van.  It  has  waited  for  certain  remuner- 
ation before  advancing,  without  attempting  to  educate  the  people  through  its  use  to  ; 
an  appreciation  of  its  advantages.  On  the  contrary,  its  spirit  has  been  too  often 
illiberal  ami  unprogressive.  A glance  at  the  telegraph  map  of  the  country  shows 
large  districts  totally  unprovided  with  telegraphic  facilities,  and  many  important 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  155 

)laces  with  post-offices  in  their  business  cejiters  dependent  n})on  the  ontlying  railroad 
tations  for  the  means  of  telegraphing. 

OPPRESSIVE  TARIFFS. 

The  tariffs  are  exorbitant,  uneciual,  and  complex,  supplemented  in  some  cases  by 
mormons  charges  for  local  delivery,  and  regulated  entirely  by  the  pleasure  of  the 
(ompanies.  In  this  connection  1 ask  attention  to  the  table  (Telegraphs  1)  appended 

0 this  report.  It  has  been  carefully  comi)iled  from  statistics  kindly  furnished  me  by 
he  International  Bureau  of  Telegraphs  in  Europe,  by  the  directors  of  the  different 
lational  bureaus,  by  JNIr.  George  8auer,  an  American  gentleman  residing  in  Europe, 
vho  has  made  the  subject  of  government  telegraphs  a special  study,  and  by  the  of- 
icers  of  several  of  the  American  com])anies,  to  all  of  whom  I desire  to  express  my 
icknowledgrnents.K  The  table  shows  that,  with  a cost  per  mile  for  construction  and 
;qui})ment  much  lower  here  than  in  Bavaiia,  France},  Great  Britain,  Italy,  and  the 
iverage  of  Europe,  and  about  equal  to  that  in  Belgium  and  north  Germany,  and  with 

1 yearly  expense  per  mile  of  line  which  will  compare  most  favorably  with  that  of 
he  countries  mentioned,  the  telegraph  in  this  country  collects  an  average  of  70  cents 
)n  each  message,  against  an  average  of  16  cents  in  Bavaria  and  Belgium,  *28  in  France, 
J9  in  Great  Britain,  'S2  in  Italy,  22  in  Germany,  and  38  in  Europe  generally.  On  the 
Ilontinent  the  minimum  taritt  is  for  twenty  words,  including  address  and  signature 
which  are  estimated  together  to  average  seven  words)  ; in  the  United  Kingdom  it  is 
or  twenty  words,  exclusive  of  address  and  signature;  while  in  the  United  States 
he  address  and  signature  are  excluded,  and  ten  wonls  only  allowed. 

[ The  table  (Telegraphs,  2)  gives  a comi)arison  of  telegrai)hic  tariffs  in  Europe  with 
:hose  in  the  United  States  as  regards  distance,  showing  the  lowest  average  rate  jiei- 
;nile  on  thirty-two  messages  sent  from  Washington  to  points  east  of  the  Mississippi 
liver  to  be  higher  than  the  highest 'average  rate  per  mile  abroad  (that  in  Russia),  and 
;he  average  rate  per  mile  on  ninety-six  messages  here  to  be  from  one  and  one-half  to 
(our  times  as  high  Jis  those  of  Europe,  notwithstanding  the  greater  distances  in  this 
fjountry. 

The  same  table  also  marks  most  clearly  the  inequality  and  discriminating  character 
')f  American  tariffs,  as  opposed  to  the  generally  uniform  rates  of  Europe, 
j The  uniform  system  has  recently  been  adopted  in  Canada,  and  a tariff  of  25  cents 
pstablished  throughout  the  Dominion  with  highly  satisfactory  results,  as  will  be 
seen  by  reference  to  the  statement  of  the  jn'esident  of  the  Montreal  Telegraph  Com- 
pany (Telegraphs,  3),  for  which  I am  indebted  to  the  honorable  postmaster-general 
L)f  Canada. 

The  complex  and  uncertain  character  of  our  rates,  necessitating  sometimes  a personal 
visit  to  the  office,  and  frequently  a lengthy  computation  to  ascertain  the  cost,  is  also 
:)ne  of  the  greatest  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  extended  use  of  the  telegraph.  A uni- 
form or  simple  and  well-known  rate  of  charge  permits  the  use  of  letter-boxes  or 
3ther  places  of  deposit. 

The  table  (Telegraphs,  4)  illustrates  the  extent  to  which  the  rates  to  large  cities  in 
the  United  States  are  burdened  with  delivery  charges,  which  often  double  the  cost 
of  a message  addressed  to  points  very  far  within  the  free  delivery  of  the  post-office. 
The  abolition  of  this  delivery  charge  in  England  by  the  government  has  produced  a 
most  salutary  effect. 

pvATES  VARIABLE  AT  THE  PLEASURE  OF  THE  COMPANIES  AND  NOT  AFFECTED  BY 
I COMPETITION. 

But  perhaps  the  greatest  evil  of  the  American  system,  in  this  regjird,  is  the  utter 
lack  of  restraint  upon  the  companies  as  to  their  charges.  When  the  ‘‘exclusive 
right,”  or  patent,  referred  to  in  the  report  above  quoted,  expired,  it  was  believed 
that  competition  would  afford  a remedy  for  the  evils  which  were  even  then  oppres- 
sively felt  by  those  who  had  occasion  to  use  the  telegraphs.  Events,  however,  have 
bhown  this  belief  to  have  been  unfounded.  Although  new  companies  have  trom  time 
to  time  sprung  up  to  divide  the  profits  of  telegraphy,  they  have  generally  proved 
short-lived,  and  their  reductions  of  tariff  have  been  but  temporary  and  within  narrow 
limits.  The  vast  extent  of  the  lines  of  the  companies  now  consolidated  under  the 
name  of  the  Western  Union  has  enabled  them  to  reduce  rates  between  places  reached 
by  the  opposition  to  a point  which  barely  enables  the  latter  to  meet  expenses,  without 
seriously  impairing  their  own  revenues.  Incredible  as  it  may  appear,  the  official 
statements  of  the  Western  Union  Company  show  that  their  average  receipt  per  mes- 
sage has  been  increased  11  cents,  or  nearly  20  per  cent.,  since  1867,  notwithstanding 
^he  undoubted  reductions  of  tariff  between  important  points.  Whether  this  is  due 
to  the  augmentation  of  rates  between  offices  not  reached  bj^  competition,  or  to  some 
bther  cause,  I do  not  know. 

i Not  only  has  com])etition  thus  failed  to  affect  the  great  mass  of  the  telegraphic 
business,  but,  in  addition,  there  are  evidences  of  a combination  between  the  cornpet- 


156 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


iug  parties  which  has  recently  resulted  in  an  advance  of  rates  between  points  reached 
by  the  wires  of  both.  The  table  (Telegraphs,  5)  gives  a few  specimens  of  rates  in 
operation  previous  to  and  since  the  1st  of  May,  1872,  which  were  fixed  by  agreement  < 
between  companies  formerly  rivals.  The  movement  is  perfectly  natural,  and,  from  I 
the  companies’  stand-^point,  justifiable;  for  it  can  not  be  expected  that  a tariff  which 
is  perhaps  highly  profitable  to  one  comiiany  will  pay,  on  a divided  business,  the  more 
than  doubled  expenses  of  two,  even  if  the  capital  invested  in  the  opposition  system  ^ 
could  afford  to  wait  for  its  dividends  until  the  lines  were  so  extended  as  to  secure  a - 
fair  share  of  patronage.  ^ 

While,  as  I have  stated,  I believe  that  improved  means  of  transmission  will  ; 
eventually  render  the  telegraph  a formidable  rival  of  the  mail,  which  it  can  not  be  i 
without  large  reductions  in  tariff,  I am  convinced  by  experience  that  these  improve-  | 
merits  will  be  adopted  too  slowly  to  meet  the  necessities  of  the  people,  and  that,  ^ 
whatever  the  rates  may  be,  the  wires  will  be  practically  controlled  by  one  corpora-  ] 
tion  so  long  as  thej’-  remain  in  jirivate  hands.  The  gradual  reduction  in  rates,  if  ever  ■ 
made,  will,  therefore,  be  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  growth  of  the  evils  at- 
tending the  management  of  tlie  telegraphs  by  a private  monopoly. 

Among  these  evils  may  be  classed  the  possible  abuse  of  the  wires  for  personal  ends  ( 
by  business  men  controlling  them ; the  enormous  and  dangerous  extent  of  the  free  'i 
message  business ; the  discrimination  between  the  messages  of  different  customers, 
bot  n as  to  rates  and  order  of  transmission  ; and  the  vast  and  irresponsible  influence 
of  telegraphic  managers  over  the  press  of  the  country. 

IMPROPER  USE  OF  TELEGRAPHIC  INFORMATION. 

However  unjust  may  be  the  suspicion  that  those  controlling  the  telegraphs  make 
use  of  the  information  passing  over  their  Avires,  it  will  probably  continue  to  impair 
public  confidence  in  this  means  of  correspondence  so  long  as  it  remains  in  the  hands 
of  persons  engaged  in  commercial  pursuits.  The  business  community,  from  which  in  ; 
this  country  by  far  the  larger  part  of  the  telegraphic  patronage  is  derived,  will  cer-  ; 
tainly  be  more  reluctant  to  intrust  its  dispatches  to  possible  rivals  than  to  officers  of  ’ 
the  Government.  Were  the  latter,  however,  to  have  the  same  motives  for  scrutiniz- 
ing messages,  the  vast  amount  of  business  under  a low  Government  tariff  would  ren-  ■ 
der  it  much  less  practicable.  The  use  of  ciphers,  now  frequent  among  business  men,  i 
has  to  some  extent  neutralized  the  danger  of  the  divulgement  of  secrets;  but  these 
can  not  be  used  on  every  occasion  in  commercial  transactions. 

FREE-MESSAGE  BUSINESS. 

The  sending  of  free  messages  not  only  imposes  a large  burden  upon  the  paying  pub- 
lic, but  leads  to  consequences,  which  I need  not  here  discuss,  more  dangerous,  in 
proportion  to  their  extent,  than  those  which  spring  from  the  abuse  of  the  franking 
])rivilege  of  the  post-office.  About  7 per  cenr.  of  the  entire  telegraphing  of  the  coun- 
try is  done  without  apparent  remuneration.  ' 

FAVORITISM.  r 

r 

The  discrimination  between  the  messages  of  diflerent  customers  consists,  first,  in 
the  transmission  of  “ commercial  news  ” in  advance  of  its  regular  order  for  distribu- 
tion among  subscribers,  to  the  delay  of  the  messages  of  those  who  do  not  patronize 
the  “ commercial  news  bureaus,”  although  of  the  same  or  an  equally  important  class  : 
and,  second,  in  unequal  charges  for  equal  service,  from  which  injustice  a portion  of  j 
the  newspaper  press  is  the  chief  sufferer. 

OPPRESSIVE  INFLUENCE  OF  TELEGRAPH  COMPANIES  UPON  NEAVSPAPERS. 

The  relations  of  the  telegraph  to  the  press  are  necessarily  of  a very  intimate  char-  • 
acter.  The  imblication  of  telegrapbic  items  having  become  at  an  early  day  a large  ; 
and  essential  part  of  the  business  of  newspapers,  arrangements  were  soon  made  for  ; 
their  collection  and  transmission.  Press  associations  were  formed,  with  agencies  at  i 
all  important  news  centers,  and  by  co-operation  were  enabled  to  secure  the  transmis-  ; 
sion  of  their  dispatches  at  rates  which,  though  hardly  less  profitable  to  the  compa- 
nies than  those  for  private  messages,  were  still  ex<  eediugly  low  when  divided  , 
among  the  several  new8pa])ers.  In  adilition  to  their  associated  dispatches,  many  of  ' 
these  pajiers  recei veil  “specials,”  for  which  the  telegraphic  charges  were  also  some- 
what lower  than  the  ordinary  tariff. 

For  mutual  adAmntage  and  ]>rotection  against  competition,  an  exclusive  character 
was  given  to  these  arrangements,  the  newspapers  agreeing  not  to  patronize  or 
encourage  oiiposition  lines,  and  the  telegraph  companies  agreeing  on  their  part  to, 
charge  higher  rates  lor  “ specials  ” to  ]>apers  not  helougiug  to  tlie  associations,  hut  : 
at  the  same  time  retaining  control  over  the  associated  papers  by  refusing  to  enter  into  • 
permanent  or  long  contracts  with  them. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


157 


The  result  of  tliis  comhiiuition  has  been  the  repression  of  newspaper  enterprise,  the 
associations  requiring  in  some  a caseaa  unanirnons  vote  for  the  admission  of  a new 
member,  and  the  rate  for  “specials”  to  non-association  papers  being  so  high  as  to 
prevent,  in  many  cases,  their  establishment. 

'fhe  immediate  interests  of  the  associated  papers  have  led  many  of  them,  in  con- 
junction with  the  telegraph  compnnies,  to  oppose  a Government  telegraph.  I ajn 
satisfied,  however,  that  the  press  generally  would  rierive  such  great  benetitsfrorn  the 
change  that  even  those  papers  to  which  the  sale  of  dispatches  is  a source  of  actual 
revenue  will  gain  rather  than  lose  by  it.  The  great  majority  wdll  hail  with  joy  a 
relief  from  their  dependence  upon  the  telegraph  companies,  without  which  relief 
they  never  can  be  entirely  free. 

The  Department  could  not,  of  course,  attenr'])t  to  regulate  the  membership  of  press 
associations.  It  could,  however,  abolish  the  distinction  in  charge  between  associa- 
tion and  outside  papers  with  regard  to  special  dispatches.  Looking  upon  the  press  as 
the  great  agent  of  popular  education,  the  Government  would  make  a liberal  reduction 
ill  its  favor  from  the  tariff  for  private  messages,  and  would  measure  the  charge  by  the 
work  done,  whether  for  a single  paper  or  an  association.  The  rates,  it  is  hoped, 
would  be  so  low  as  to  permit  a free  use  of  the  telegraph  by  all.  The  renting  of  spe- 
cial wires  by  the  press  would  be  encouraged. 

DISCUSSIONS  IN  CONGKESS  UPON  THE  ADOPTION  OF  A POSTAL  TELEGRAPH. 

The  considerations  above  noted  have  long  appealed  to  Congress  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a postal  telegraph.  The  importance  of  the  measure  has  been  uigedfrom  all 
pi.ints  of  view — by  State  legislatures,  by  boards  of  trade,  by  commercial  conventions, 
by  the  independent  press,  and  by  private  persons,  many  of  whom  have  been  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  practical  workings  of  the  telegraph  in  this  and  other  couii- 
Tries.  The  legislaiion  of  Congress,  wliich  had  previously  been  confined  to  the  liberal 
encouragement  of  the  telegraph  in  private  hands,  was  directed,  after  the  close  of  the 
rebellion,  toward  its  assumption  by  the  Government  as  part  of  the  post-office  estab- 
lishment. Strenuous  opposition  was  mauifested  to  this  proposal.  The  reasons 
alleged  against  its  adoption  were  principally  : 

(1)  That  the  telegraph  was  essentially  a private  interest,  and. should  not  be  con- 
trolled by  Government,  especially  in  a republic. 

(2)  That  under  our  political  system  a Government  telegraph  would  be  a dangerous 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  party  in  power,  increasing  its  patronage,  and  permit- 
ing  it  to  scrutinize  and  delay  the  messages  of  the  opposition. 

(3)  That  Government  management,  though  more  expensive,  would  be  less  efficient, 
and  that  the  public  would  not  be  so  well  served  thereby. 

(4)  That  the  cost  of  the  postal  telegraiih  would  be  more  than  the  finances  of  the 
country  would  permit,  particularly  if,  as  was  claimed,  it  could  not  be  made  self-sup- 
porting. 

The  first  three  of  these  objections  were  not  deemed  sufficient  to  counterbalance  the 
advantages  which  the  proposition  offered.  It  was  contended,  and  with  effect,  that 
the  business  of  telegraphing  was  substantially  the  same  as  letter-carrying,  and  that 
no  reason  could  be  advanced  in  favor  of  governmental  management  of  the  one  which  did 
not  apply  with  equal  force  to  the  other;  that  the  incorporation  of  the  telegraph  with  the 
X>ost-office  would  not  at  first  add  largely  to  the  number  of  officials,  and  that  the  tech- 
nical training  and  experience  which  these  officials  must  have  in  order  to  perforin  their 
duties  at  all  would  preclude  their  selection  for  political  reasons ; that  the  simple  precau- 
tion of  timing  the  receipt,  transmission,  and  delivery  of  messages  would  prevent  their 
delay,  and  that  their  secrecy  could  be  as  effectually  guarded  by  Government  under  re- 
straint of  law  as  it  ever  has  been  by  private  parties  ; that  the  same  motives  for  efficient 
management  exist  on  the  part  of  .salaried  officials,  whether  in  the  employ  of  the  Govern- 
ment or  of  a widely  extended  corporation  ; that  the  people  could  exert  a much  greater 
influence  on  a Government  Department,  through  Congress  and  through  the  press,  than 
they  can  upon  a company  managed  in  the  interests  of  its  stockholders,  notwithstand- 
ing the  legal  responsibility  of  the  latter;  that  the  consolidation  of  competing  lines 
and  the  removal  of  the  offices  into  the  post-offices  would  cause  a large  reduction  in 
the  expense  of  management,  and  that  the  employment  of  one  staff  for  both  postal 
and  telegraphic  service  at  perhaps  two-thirds  of  the  stations,  besides  further  reducing 
the  expenses,  would  enable  the  Dejiartment  to  pay  better  salaries  than  are  now  re- 
ceived by  either  class  of  employes,  and  secure  greater  efficiency.  The  fourth  objection , 
supported  as  it  was  by  statistics  claiming  to  show'  that  governmental  telegraphs  in 
Europe,  were  not  self-supporting,  weighed  strongly  against  immediate  action  on  the 
proposition  for  a postal  telegraph  in  this  country. 

TELEGRAPH  ACT  OF  186(5. 

The  abuses  of  the  existing  system  were,  however,  deeply  felt.  Relief  therefrom 
seemed  to  be  ottered  in  1866  by  a new  company,  called  the  National,  which  sought  to 
obtain  from  Congress  certain  valuable  franchises,  and  proposed,  in  return,  to  trans- 


158 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


rnit  Government  dispatclie?  in  advance  of  and  cbeaper  than  those  of  ])rivate  parties] 
and  to  submit  to  a proviso  reserving  the  right  of  Government  to  step  in  at  anj"  tiniej 
and  take  its  lines,  at  an  appraised  value.  j 

In  the  consideration  of  this  proposition,  however,  the  idea  of  a tnture  Government] 
telegraph  still  predominated.  It  was  decided  not  to  restrict  the  privileges  asked  fori 
by  the  National  Company  to  that  organization,  and  they  were  freely  oifered  to  all* 
companies  who  chose  to  accept  the  terms  of  the  act.  The  provision  in  the  origiuail 
draught  declaring  that  the  Government  might  purchase  their  lines  at  any  time  waf? 
altered  so  as  to  make  it  operative  after  the  expiration  of  five  years.  Its  value  as  a1 
check  on  the  companies  was  thus  utterly  lost,  and  its  intent  was  changed  from  thej 
exertion  of  a perpetual  control  over  private  interests  to  a notitication  that,  after 
certain  date,  the  Governmeut  might  assume  the  management  of  what  was  manifestly! 
considered  a public  business,  and  to  the  expression  of  a willingness  to  acquire  the  nec- 
essary machinery  therefor  at  a fair  i)rice  from  companies  already  possessing  it,  in 
preference  to  purchasing  and  erecting  new  machinery.  ’ 

IT.S  ACCEPTANCE  BY  THE  COMPANIES.  1 

The  act  was  tiually  passed  in  that  shape,  and  approved  on  the  24th  of  July,  186(3; 
It  was  at  once  accepted  by  the  leading  companies,  of  whom  the  following  are  now! 
operating  their  lines  subject  to  its  provisions:  Western  Union,  International,  Inrer- 
national  Ocean,  Northwestern,  Missouri  River,  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  Pacific  and  At-i 
lantic,  Great  Western,  Franklin,  Southern  and  Atlantic,  and  National. 

PPvOPOSED  PLAN  IN  ACCOBDANCE  WITH  ITS  PROVISIONS. 

The  time  having  now  come,  in  my  opinion,  when  the  benefits  of  a Government 
telegraph  should  be  secured  to  the  people,  it  is  desirable  that  advantage  should  be' 
taken  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  tlie  lines  of  some  or  all  of  the  above  com- 
lianies  brought  under  control  of  this  Department.  The  other  objections  to  such  a 
course  having,  it  is  believed,  been  fully  answered,  it  only  remains  to  be  shown  that 
the  expense  of  acquiring  a comprehensive  system  of  lines  can  be  easily  borne,  and 
that  the  system,  once  acquired,  can  be  so  managed  as  to  realize  from  the  receipts  of  the 
telegraph  itself  sufficient,  after  meeting  all  expenses,  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  pur-* 
chase-mouey,  provide  for  all  necessary  annual  exteusions,  and  gradually  to  recover 
the  principal,  even  at  the  greatly  reduced  rates  which  prevail  in  foreign  countries.' 
While  the  limited  data  at  my  command  will  not  permit  me  to  give  detailed  estimates? 
my  information  on  the  subject  is  sufficiently  accurate  to  enable  me  to  lay  before  yoil 
the  following  general  plan.  Before  it  can  be  elaborated,  it  is  necessary  that  I should 
be  authorized  to  appoint  the  appraisers  provided  for  in  the  act  of  1866,  and,  in  addi-] 
tion  thereto,  that  a commission  should  be  appointed,  to  consist  of  three  members^ 
conversant  with  the  subject,  to  examine  the  different  systems  of  telegraphy,  and  toj 
prepare  a scheme  for  submission  to  Congress  with  the  report  of  the  appraisers.  ■ 

Upon  the  enforcement  of  the  act  of  1866,  the  United  States  will  come  into  posses-J 
sion  of  some  75,060  miles  of  teRgraph  line,  carrying  about  160,000  miles  of  wire.' 
Upon  the  supposition,  however,  oiat  if  the  companies  not  now  operating  under  the 
act  shall  decline  to  accept  its  provisions,  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  Government  to 
build  lines  of  its  own,  covering  their  territory,  I have  made  the  following  estimates? 
to  include  the  total  facilities  of  all  the  companies,  as  shown  in  the  table  (Telegraphs,' 
1),  viz,  77,000  miles  of  line  and  165,000  miles  of  wire.  i 

The  majority  of  lines  in  this  country  have  been  built  very  cheaply,  their  entire 
cost,  including  patents,  being  probablj^  much  less  than  $10,000,000.  In  fact,  the 
poles  have  been  erected  in  many  cases  entirely  without  cost  to  the  telegraph  compa-- 
nies,  by  the  railroads  along  whose  tracks  they  are  built.  But  should  it  prove  impos' 
sible  for  the  appraisers  to  ascertain  this  cost  for  each  of  the  companies,  the  sum  for 
which  the  GoveTnment  could  duplicate  the  existing  system  is  easily  determined; 
Data  in  possession  of  this  Department  show  that  many  lines  have  been  lately  builtf 
probably  not  of  the  best  quality,  but  fully  up  to  the  average  standard,  for  not  more 
than  $115  per  mile  of  single-wire  line  and  $30  [)er  mile  of  adiiitionul  wire.  For  equip-] 
ment  an  allowance  of  $5  per  mile  of  line  is  ample.  Were  all  the  wires  to  be  strung 
at  the  same  time,  as  they  would  bo  if  the  present  system  were  to  be  duplicated  bv 
the  Government,  the  cost  would  probably  be  much  less.  The  cost  of  a new  system." 
equal  in  extent  to  the  present,  would,  at  the  above  rates,  be  $11,880,000.  Many  of 
the  wires  having,  however,  been  in  use  for  a long  time,  the  appraisers  would  proba-' 
bly  deduct  from  this  amount  on  account  of  deterioration  ; but  the  sum  so  deducted,' 
at  least,  wouhl  have  to  be  paid  out  for  reconstruction.  ■' 

It  may  be  proper  to  state  that  one  of  the  companies  has  advanced  the  theory  thats 
the  Government  should  purchase,  not  only  its  telegraph  lines,  property,  and  effects, j| 
but  also  the  good-will  of  its  business,  based  on  present  and  prospective  profits.  As  i« 
is  difficult  to  see  how  mere  good-will  can  be  brought  before  the  appraisers  under  theJ 
law  as  it  stands,  it  is  perhaps  unnecessary  for  me  to  discuss  at  much  length  the  merit^ 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


159 


of  this  claim.  It  has  not  hitherto  been  thought  necessary  for  the  Government,  in 
^undertaking  enterprises  in  which  private  parties  are  also  engaged,  either  to  acquire 
|the  facilities  of  such  private  parties  or  to  compeusate  them  for  their  loss  on  account 
of  its  competition.  Up  to  the  year  1866  the  Government  was  certainly  at  liberty  to 
compete  with  telegraph  companies,  as  it  now  does  with  banks  and  express  compaiiies 
in  its  money-order  business  and  parcel-post.  If  then,  as  claimed  by  this  company, 
the  act  of  1866  bound  the  Government  not  to  enter  the  telegraphic  held  for  hve  years, 
and  when  it  did  enter  to  buy  out  the  existing  lines  instead  of  building  a more  perfect 
system  of  its  own,  the  granting  of  these  and  the  other  cot)oessions  contained’in  the 
[act  ought  to  have  improved  the  position  of  the  Government,  instead  of  making  it 
[worse. 

There  was  nothing  compulsory  about  the  act ; its  acceptance  by  the  com^^auies  was 
[purely  voluntary.  It  looked  toward  a future  postal  telegraph,  set  a time  after  which 
the  companies  might  expect  to  see  one  established,  and  offered  inducements,  which  it 
seems  were  sufficient,  for  the  companies  to  agree  to  yield  up  their  facilities  upon  the 
bxpiration  of  the  time  designated. 

The  manner  in  which  the  British  Government  recently  acquired  the  telegraphs  can 
pot  be  cited  as  a precedent  for  the  United  States.  There  was  no  such  previous  agree- 
jment  between  Her  Majesty’s  Government  and  the  companies  of  the  United  Kingdom 
jas  is  contained  in  our  act  of  1866.  The  British  Government  offered  to  pay  twenty 
years’  protits,  and  the  companies  having  accepted  the  proposition,  the  sitting  Parlia- 
tnent  sanctioned  it.  Had  the  companies  been  earning  5 per  cent.,  which  is  a fair  re- 
firn  to  British  capital  on  a reliable  home  investment,  the  price  would  have  simply 
equalled  the  cost  of  their  lines.  It  turned  out  that  their  profits  were  nearer  15  per 
cent. ; but  the  new  Parliament,  with  some  opposition,  sustained  the  agreement,  and 
authorized  the  expenditure.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  British  Gov- 
ernment has  always  derived  a revenue  from  its  post-office,  and  naturally  took  a com- 
mercial view  ot  the  acquisition  of  the  telegraphs.  The  argument  was,  that  if  the 
profits  were  higher  than  was  expected,  the  Government  would  get  so  much  more  for 
its  money,  and  the  sooner  the  purchase  was  completed  the  better.  The  comprehensive, 
suergetic,  and  careful  management  of  Mr.  Scudamore  and  his  associates  has  enabled 
the  British  Government  to  realize  this  view. 

ADDITIONAL  TELEGRAPHIC  FACILITIES. 

Without  the  data  to  be  acquired  by  the  commission  which  1 have  asked  to  be  ap- 
pointed, I can  not  give  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  additional  facilities  which  will  be 
lecessary  to  meet  the  increase  of  business  on  existing  routes,  or  the  exact  extensions 
which  should  be  undertaken  to  points  not  now  reached  by  the  telegraph.  With 
thorough  reconstruction,  however,  the  use  of  improved  instruments,  and  the  separa- 
fion  of  postal  from  railway  wires,  the  capacity  of  existing  routes  may,  without  doubt, 
le  doubled.  Certainly  will  this  be  the  case  if,  as  is  anticipated,  the  additional  mos- 
sages  induced  by  low  tariffs  are  largely  of  a social  character,  sent  out  of  business 
lours,  and  permitting  a more  equal  distribution  of  business  throughout  the  day  and 
light.  An  increment  of  20  messages  per  day  between  any  two  offices  will,  at  an  aver- 
ige  receipt  of  33  cents,  yield  $1,980  per  year  of  300  working  days,  which  will  put  up 
)0  miles  of  additional  wire,  at  $30  per  mile,  and  leave  $180  fo/ additional  expenses. 

business  of  40  messages  daily,  20  each  v/ay,  will  yield  $3,960,  sufficient  to  build  a 
lingle-wire  line  25  miles,  at  $130  per  mile  (including  $10  per  mile  for  additional  ex- 
pense away  from  railroads),  leaving  $710  for  operating  and  expenses.  Whenever, 
therefore,  such  an  increase  takes  place  on  a circuit  already  established,  or  such  a 
lusiuess  can  be  predicted  of  an  office  away  from  the  line,  the  above  extension  will  be 
ustified.  There  are  undoubtedly  large  districts  and  important  points  wholly  unpro- 
ffded  with  telegraphic  facilities,  but  I can  not  at  present  indicate  them  with  accuracy. 
Che  present  system  extends  to  6,162  different  points,  with  about  600  branch  offices. 
It  perhaps  1,000  of  these,  principally  mere  railroad  stations,  there  are  no  post-offices. 
Ihould  it  not  be  found  expedient  at  any  of  these  latter  offices  to  open  post-offices,  the 
ilepartment  could  secure  their  use  to  the  public  by  such  arrangements  with  the  rail- 
oads  as  prevail  in  Europe. 

In  Great  Britain,  according  to  Mr.  Scudamore’s  report,  there  are  1,807  railway 
tations  open  to  the  public  for  telegraphic  business,  and  3,291  postal  telegraph  sta- 
ions  ; but  the  railway  offices  transmit  only  7 per  cent,  of  the  messages.  While, 
herefore,  these  offices  must  be  counted  among  the  telegraphic  facilities,  their  re- 
eipts  and  their  cost  will  always  be  small. 

REDUCTION  OF  TARIFFS. 

It  has  been  broadly,  but  I think  properly,  stated  that  the  transmission  of  letters, 
elegrams,  or  other  correspondence  should  not  be  considered  in  itself  as  a proper 
ource  ot  revenue.  The  tax  on  correspondence  ought  to  represent  merely  the  actual 
ost,  and  the  mail  and  telegraph  should  be  used  as  freely  as  possible  to  stimulate 


160 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


other  sonrces  of  revenue.  Should  the  postal  telegraph  he  adopted,  the  Government 
will  probably  start  with  a business  of  15,000,000  messages.  After  the  thorough  reno- 
vation of  the  lines,  I believe  the  tariff  can  be  advantageously  reduced  to  an  average 
of  30  cents  thronghont  the  United  States.  As  a minimum,  such  a tariff  would  be  too 
high.  I should,  therefore,  be  in  favor  of  adopting  a simple  graduated  tariff’,  based 
upon  well-known  geographical  divisions.  To  lay  out  such  a tariff  in  accordance  with 
the  established  course  of  business  would  be  part  of  the  labors  of  the  commission  for 
whose  appointment  I ask.  If  afforded  the  neressary  opportunities  by  the  companies, 
they  could  perform  this  work  and  at  the  same  time  learn  what  new  facilities,  if  any, 
were  likely  to  be  necessary. 

PROBABLE  INCREASE  OF  TELEGRAPHIC  BUSINESS. 

The  experience  of  Switzerland  and  some  other  countries  shows  that  a reduction  of 
50  per  cent,  in  tariffs  was  followed  by  an  increase  of  100  per  cent,  in  business. 
In  Great  Britain,  except  for  porterage,  there  was  no  reduction  in  rates  for  more  than 
half  of  the  business,  a reduction  of  33^  per  cent,  on  three-tenths  of  the  messages,  and 
on  the  remainder  a reduction  of  50  per  cent.  Under  these  circumstances  the  mes- 
sages nearly  doubled  in  two  years. 

In  the  communication  ifom  the  president  of  the  Montreal  Telegraph  Company, 
addressed  to  Hon.  Alexander  Campbell,  postmaster-general  of  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  under  date  of  “iSth  October,  1872,  before  referred  to,  it  is  stated  that, 
‘^believing  that  this  system  (differential  and  distance  rates)  was  erroneous,  I,  with 
the  concurrence  of  the  directors,  commenced  a gradual  and  very  cautious  reduction 
in  the  rates  ; and  I found  that  every  reduction  brought  an  increase  of  business  much 
more  than  the  reduction  and  increased  expeuses  which  it  entailed  came  to.  Encour- 
aged by  this  result,  I continued  the  system  of  reduction  from  year  to  year,  till  an  , 
examination  of  the  business  of  the  year  1869  showed  me  that  nearly  90  per  cent,  of  ^ 
our  total  receipts  was  obtained  from  the  25-ceut  portion  of  the  tariff.  This  and  the  : 
discouragement  of  any  proposed  opposition  line  induced  me  to  adopt  a uniform  charge  ; 
of  25  cents  for  ten  words  and  1 cent  for  each  subsequent  word,  irrespective  of  place 
or  distance.’’  The  result  of  this  reduction,  which  applied  to  only  10  per  cent,  of  the  , 
business,  was  an  increase  of  25  per  cent,  in  the  total  number  of  messages  in  the  first  , 
year  of  its  application.  , 

ESTIMATED  REVENUE. 

From  the  foregoing  examples,  I have  no  doubt  that  one  year  of  the  tariff  above 
proposed,  after  the  provision  of  proper  facilities,  would  double  the  number  of  messages  ■■ 
in  this  country.  In  that  case  our  business  will  be  30,000,000  iihessages,  which,  at  an  \ 
average  of  33^  cents  per  message,  will  yield  a gross  revenue  of  $10,000,000.  i 

ESTIMATED  EXPENSES.  | 

From  this  revenue  will  have  to  beiirovided  5 percent,  on  cost  for  interest  ($594,000):  j 
5 per  cent,  on  cost  for  a sinking  fund  to  recover  principal  ($594,000)  ; 20  per  cent,  on  'j 
cost  for  maintenance,  supplies,  etc.  ($2,376,000)  ; and  10  [per  cent,  of  gross  revenue  ;i£ 
for  extensions  ($1,000,000);  total,  $4,564,000;  leaving  for  salaries,  $5,436,000. 

The  entire  cost  of  2,700  stations  in  the  United  Kingdom,  where  the  postmasters  ,] 
provide  for  the  service,  is  only  about  one-fourth  as  much  as  the  aggregate  cost  of  the  ^ 
600  offices  where  the  department  employs  a separate  telegraphic  staff’.  While  the  ^ 
plan  of  allowing  the  postmasters  to  iirovide  the  telegraphic  service  has  there  worked  i 
satisfactorily,  I am  of  the  opinion  that  it  could  not  be  adopted  here  with  equal  sue-  | 
cess.  Hence,  I estimate  for  a saving  in  salaries  only  at  those  offices  where  the  post-  f 
master  could  personally  perform  the  work.  These  offices,  it  is  safe  to  say,  number 
fully  4,000,  at  which  an  average  extra  allowance  of  $200  per  annum  would  secure  to 
the  Department  a skilled  operator  as  postmaster.  This  would  involve  an  expend!-  < 
ture  of  $800,000.  Arrangements  with  the  railroads  for  comniissions  on  private  busi-  i 
ness  transacted  for  them  would  provide  for  the  working  of  about  1,000  offices,  as  ’ 
above  stated,  costing  the  Department  perhaps  $100,000.  Fifteen  hundred  offices,  in-  j 
eluding  branches,  would  then  be  left,  now  worked  by  5,000  employes  of  all  grades,  ! 
whose  salaries  would  have  to  be  borne  entirely  by  the  telegraph.  An  increase  of  50 
per  cent,  in  this  force  would  be  sufficient  to  provide  for  the  doubled  business,  and 
the  salaries  of  these  7,500  employes,  at  an  average  of  $600,  would  consume  the  resi- 
due of  $4,500,000.  . - ^ ^ 

The  foregoing  estimates  can  not  be  expected  to  bo  minutely  accurate.  Comparison 
Avith  the  figures  of  the  companies  will  show  them  to  be  exceedingly  liberal,  especially 
in  the  item  of  salaries  ; and  I believe  the  actual  Avorkiug  of  the  system  would  give 
much  better  results  for  the  Department.  The  statistics  of  Europe  can  afford  no  ade- 
quate idea  of  what  may  be  done  in  this  country.  A people  who  use  the  telegraph  so_ 
largely  as  wm  do  under  the  great  difficulties  hereinbefore  enumerated  will  promptly’ 
respond  to  the  utmost  advantages  that  can  be  offered  them.  With  a much  freer,  more; 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


161 


extended,  aud  more  active  social  and  commercial  intercourse  than  prevails  between 
the  different  states  of  Europe,  with  a population  rapidly  increasing  and  keenly  alive 
to  all  the  demands  of  a progressive  civilization,  aud  with  a territory  ohpring  by  its 
vast  extent  the  greatest  inducements  to  the  use  of  the  telegraph  in  preference  to  the 
mail,  it  may  be  safely  predicted  that  telegraphy  in  America  will  hereafter  solve  prob- 
lems and  accomplish  results  that  will  far  outstrip  its  wonderful  achievements  in  the 
past. 

NECESSITY  OF  A GOVERNMENTAL  TELEGRAPH  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

In  presenting  the  foregoing  views  and  recommendations,  1 have  confined  myself 
f^ncirely  to  the  wants  of  the  people  in  a state  of  peace,  and  have  sought  only, to  pro- 
vide suitable  facilities  for  the  development  of  our  social,  industrial,  commercial,  mari- 
time, agricultural,  and  educational  resources,  and  to  bind  together  our  extended 
population  by  that  intimate  knowledge  which  a cheap  and  extended  mode  of  instan- 
taneous intercourse  can  alone  give.  There  is  another  aspect  of  the  subject  much 
more  impressive.  In  time  of  war — aud  God  will  not  always  ward  off  that  terrible 
calamity— a postal  telegraph  will  become  of  supreme  importance.  The  Government, 
when  engaged  in  a struggle  which  may  involve  its  very  existence  or  the  honor  and 
liberties  of  the  American  people,  can  not  and  will  not  permit  the  telegraph,  unrivalled 
as  a means  of  communication,  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  any  individual,  company,  or 
corporation.  At  such  a time  public  dispatches  must  be  forwarded  with  the  greatest 
celerity  and  absolute  secrecy.  Sworn  officers  of  the  Government  will  alone  be  trusted 
to  discharge  duties  involving  the  most  tremendous  consequences.  Hence,  nearly  all 
the  great  nations  of  the  earth  have  assumed  the  management  and  control  of  the  tele- 
graph within  their  respective  borders,  aud  the  United  States  must  do  likewise. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  PLAN  PROPOSED  FOR  THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A TELEGRAPH 
COMPANY  TO  WORK  ITS  LINES  IN  CONNECTION  WITH  THE  DEPARTMENT. 

Before  closing  this  subject  I desire  briefly  to  express  my  disapproval  of  the  scheme 
proposed  for  the  incorporation  of  a company,  improperly  called  ‘‘The  Postal  Tele- 
graph Company,”  to  ojierate  its  lines  in  connection  with  the  Post-Office  Department. 
It  is  not  in  analogy  with  the  workings  of  the  mail  service  in  any  important  particu- 
lar. In  the  latter,  the  Department  transmits  the  mails  under  the  charge  of  its  own 
officers,  and  controls  all  the  machinery  needed  for  that  purpose.  In  the  former,  it  is 
proposed  to  make  the  Department  a mere  agent  to  receive  and  deliver  telegraph  mes- 
sages for  the  benefit  aud  profit  of  a jirivate  corporation.  The  terms  of  the  proposed 
charter  require  the  Government  to  furnish  stamps,  stamped  paper,  and  stationery ; 
to  receive  the  message  from  the  transmitter,  take  the  pay  therefor,  see  that  the  proper 
stamp  IS  affixed,  and  hand  over  the  message  to  the  operator  of  the  company  ; and 
then,  at  the  office  of  delivery,  to  see  that  it  is  properly  written  out,  enveloped,  and 
delivered.  The  Government  is  required  to  provide  and  equip  suitable  station-houses 
for  all  the  offices,  operators,  instruments,  and  batteries  of  the  company.  The  Gov- 
• eminent  is  also  required  to  keep  all  accounts  arising  out  of  the  business  of  telegraph- 
ing; make  reports  to  the  company  at  stated  times,  aud  pay  over  all  the  moneys 
chargeable  upon  the  gross  number  of  messages,  after  deducting  5 cents  only  on  all 
dispatches  other  than  press  dispatches,  aud  3 cents  only  on  them.  It  thus  appears 
that,  while  the  company  is  only  required  to  provide  the  lines,  batteries,  and  oper- 
ators, and  the  Government  everything  else,  the  company  is  to  receive  (should  the 
average  receipt  per  message  be  no  bigher  than  40  cents)  about  87  per  cent,  of  the 
receipts,  aud  the  Government  only  13  per  cent.  Doubtless  a most  excellent  arrange- 
ment for  the  company,  but  doubtless  a most  unprofitable  one  for  the  Government. 

Furthermore,  the  supervisory  power  given  the  Postmaster- General  is  a delusion, 
because  every  order  that  he  might  make,  however  important  or  unimportant,  would 
be  subject  to  an  appeal,  upon  the  application  of  the  company,  to  a board  of  arbitra- 
tors, and,  on  failure  or  refusal  of  the  company  to  perform  any  duty,  the  Postmaster- 
General,  provided  he  should  be  sustained  by  the  arbitrators,  would- have  no  remedy 
other  than  to  take  possession  of  the  lines  of  the  company,  and  “ contract  with  some 
suitable  party  for  the  [lerformance  ” of  the  service.  The  Government,  inasmuch  as  it 
■would  deal  directly  with  the  parties  sending  aud  receiving  messages,  would  be  alone 
looked  to  for  redress  in  case  of  default ; and  yet  it  would  have  no  adequate  power  to 
compel  the  company  to  execute  its  contract.  This  would  lead  to  endless  confusion 
ami  irreconcilable  conflicts  between  the  Government  aud  the  company,  and  would 
certainly  result  in  great  inconvenience  and  pecuniary  disaster  t*'  the  people  ; and 
before  the  expiration  of  the  ten  years  of  the  contract,  the  Government  would  find 
that  it  had  been  fostering  a mammoth  corporation,  from  whose  embrace  there  would 
be  no  escape  except  by  buying  it  off. 

Authority  is  asked  for  the  issue  a large  amount  of  stock  for  purposes  of  mere  orgaui- 
zation  ; yet  it  is  not  claimed  that  the  new  company,  when  organized,  will  control  a 
single  mile  of  wire  now  standing,  nor  is  the  company  required  within  any  specified 

P T 11 


162 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES 


time  to  enter  upon  the  performance  of  its  contract.  To  meet  its  engagements  within 
a reasonable  time  the  company  will  be  compelled  to  buy  out  or  control  some,  at  least, 
of  the  existing  lines,  without  any  such  previous  agreement  with  them  as  the  Govern- 
ment enjoys  under  the  act  of  1866,  and  upon  the  best  terms  obtainable.  Should  the 
charter  pass  and  the  new  company  acquire  the  lines  of  the  old  organizations  there- 
under, the  Government  would,  by  permitting  their  purchase  on  a good-will  basis, 
lose  the  advantages  of  its  present  position  ; and  when  the  time  came  for  the  absolute 
sale  of  the  new  company’s  lines,  which  is  provided  for  in  the  proposed  charter  (as 
come  it  certainly  would),  the  Government  could  not,  without  apparent  injustice,  go 
behind  the  transaction  between  the  new  company  and  its  predecessors,  to  which 
consent  had  been  given  by  the  charter,  and  would  "be  obliged  to  pay  a much  larger 
sum  for  the  lines  now  in  operation  than  could  be  justly  demanded  under  the  act  of 
1866.  * , • 

I am  decidedly  of  opinion  that,  if  the  public  interest  requires  a postal  telegraph,  i*t 
should  be  put  entirely  into  the  hands  of  the  Government.  If,  on  the  contrary,  a- 
postal  telegraph  is  not  so  demanded,  then  the  Government  should  not  favor  one  pri- 
vate company  to  the  exclusion  of  another,  nor  should  it  in  any  wise  enter  into  compe- 
tition with  private  enterprise.  • 

[Hon.  John  A.  J.  Creswell,  pages  44  to  49,  November  14,  1873.] 

A year  ago  I earnestly  urged  the  assumption  by  Government  of  the  control  of  the 
telegraph,  and  gave  at  some  length  ray  reasons  for  believing  that  such  action  would 
correct  the  defects  of  the  present  management  and  result  in  great  benefit  to  the  coun- 
try. I also  presented  at  the  same  time  estimates  of  the  cost  of  duplicating  the  lines 
and  apparatus  now  in  use.  There  is  no  need  of  repeating  those  reasons  or  estimates. 
I desire,  however,  to  express  my  full  confidence  in  the  soundness  of  the  former  and 
the  appro  ximate  correctness  of  the  latter,  notwithstanding  the  eftbrts  which  have 
been  made  to  invalidate  them.  Ample  time  has  elapsed  for  a full  aud  free  discussion 
of  the  subject  iu  all  its  bearings,  but  no  points  have  been  developed  which  have  not 
already  been  considered.  One  fact  is  conspicuous  and  most  significant,  and  that  i» 
that  the  opposition  to  the  postal  telegraph  comes  almost  entirely  from  the  telegraph 
companies  and  those  directly  interested  with  them  in  sustaining  their  monopoly. 
Every  intelligent  disinterested  observer  who  has  seen  the  working  of  the  Govern- 
ment systems  abroad  gives  them  the  decided  preference. 

The  necessity  for  an  efficient  and  cheap  mode  of  telegraphic  communication,  which 
shall  be  beyond  the  control  of  private  monopolies  and  within  the  means  of  all,  is 
daily  becoming  more  apparent.  Under  the  present  management  the  use  of  the  tele- 
graph by  the  masses  of  the  people  is  almost  prohibited,  by  reason  of  arbitrary  rates, 
unnecessarily  high  charges,  and  a want  of  facilities.  This  assertion  is  verified  by 
the  testimony  of  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Company,  who  stated  before  a 
committee  of  Congress  that,  out  of  forty  millions  of  our  population,  only  one  million 
use  the  telegraph  at  all.  This  is  certainly  an  anomalous  condition  of  affairs  among 
a people  the  first  in  the  world  for  intelligence  and  business  activity.  It  may,  how- 
ever, be  regarded  as  settled  that,  while  under  the  control  of  private  companies,  whose 
chief  object  is  to  make  a profit  for  their  stockholders  and  whose  skill  and  labor  are  ex- 
]>ended  in  efforts  to  advance  the  prices  of  their  stock  and  to  enforce  the  highest 
rates  to  which  the  public  can  be  made  to  submit,  the  telegraph  will  never  become  a 
general  medium  of  correspondence.  A Government  postal  telegraph  is  the  only  means 
by  which  the  full  advantage  of  this  great  invention  can  be  secured ; for,  wherever 
the  telegraph  is  under  Government  management,  it  is  operated  at  its  minimum  cost, 
and  the  people  receive  the  benefit  in  low  rates  of  transmission  and  in  greatly  ex- 
tended facilities. 

Appended  to  this  report  are  four  tables,  to  which  reference  may  be  made  for  reliable 
information,  derived  from  official  sources,  as  to  the  condition,  force,  and  operation  of 
various  government  telegraphs  in  Europe.  Table  1,  kindly  furnished  by  the  director 
of  the  bureau  of  international  telegraphs  of  Switzerland,  gives  condensed  returns, 
showing  the  receipts,  expenditures,  and  other  details  of  European  systems.  Table  2 
gives  the  number  of  messages  (exclusive  of  press  and  news  messages)  forwarded  from 
postal-telegraph  stations  iu  the  United  Kingdom  during  each  mouth  of  1871  and  1872 ; 
and  Tables  3 aud  4 give  a like  statement  for  each  week  and  month  of  the  first  three 
quarters  of  1872  and  1873,  respectively. 

Nature  furnishes  an  inexhaustible  store-house  of  electricity.  The  earth  aud  the 
atmosphere  constitute  the  never-wearying  media  of  its  transmission.  Its  application 
to  inhnite  uses  is  limited  only  by  human  knowledge  aud  ingenuity.  A single  genera- 
tion has  filled  the  earth  with  wonder,  and  we  are  still  on  the  mere  threshhold  of  investi- 
gation. Successive  improvements  have  contributed  so  much  to  the  simplification  of 
telegraphic  apparatus  that  the  work  of  the  operator  is  no  longer  a mystery.  Private 
lines,  connecting  the  residences  of  merchants  and  other  business  mea  with  their  stores 
and  offices,  are  increasing  iu  number  aud  popularity  ; and  so  notable  has  been  the  ad** 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  165 

vance  that  electricity  is  now  called  into  daily  requisition  to  meet  the  ordinary  wants 
of  domestic  life. 

For  years  past  the  attention  of  inventors  and  scientists  has  been  attracted  to  the 
necessity  for  a more  rapid  and  less  expensive  mode  of  transmission  than  the  Morse, 
which  requires  the  message  to  be  spelled  out  by  a slow  and  tedious  process,  at  about 
the  speed  of  an  ordinary  writer.  One  of  the  results  of  their  investigation  is  the 
“ automatic’’  or  fast  system,  now  in  operation  between  New  York  and  Washington. 
This  system  is  capable  of  a speed  of  from  500  to  800  words  per  minute.  The  average 
of  an  expert  Morse  operator  is  not  over  25  words  per  minute.  Therefore  it  is  evi- 
dent that  if  the  automatic  method  can  be  made  to  accomplish  what  its  advocates 
confidently  predict  for  it,  the  capacity  of*^a  single  wire  for  business  will  be  increased 
nearly  or  quite  thirty  times.  This  iucreased  capacity  may  be  again  doubled,  or  per- 
haps quadrupled,  if  the  duplex  apparatus,  now  used  every  day  by  established  com- 
pauies  for  sending  messages  simultaueously  in  differjnt  directions  on  the  same  wire, 
can  be  successfully  combined  with  the  automatic  machine.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
of  the  ultimate  success  of  the  automatic  principle.  Its  battle  with  an  incredulous 
public  is  almost  won.  As  soon  as  it  shall  be  thoroughly  developed  and  applied  in 
practice,  the  problem  of  cheap  telegraphy  will  be  dt  finitely  solved. 

Experiments  by  the  French  electricians  and  inventors,  D’Arlincourt  and  Meyer,  in 
the  direction  of  rapid  autographic  telegraphing,  have  resulted  in  marked  improve- 
ments. By  the  autographic  system  a /ac  of  the  message  written  by  the  sender 

for  transmission  is  reproduced  at  the  distant  oifice  of  delivery,  thus  enabling  the  re- 
ceiver to  verify  the  signature  of  his  correspondent.  Diagrams,  maps,  plans,  tracings, 
or  letters  written  in  stenographic  characters  or  in  symbols  can  also  be  transmitted 
by  this  instrument,  and  as  the  message  or  drawing  to  be  sent  is  itself  used  as  a 
medium  of  transmission  and  the  act  of  sending  is  entirely  mechanical,  errors  very 
rarely  occur. 

In  truth,  there  is  no  limit  to  the  possibilities  of  electrical  and  telegraphic  inven- 
tion. Improved  processes  are  constantly  being  discovered,  new  instruments  de- 
vised, and  new  adaptations  made ; and  in  the  near  future  the  entire  methods  and 
machinery  of  telegraphic  communication  will  be  cheapened  and  familiarized  to  such 
au  extent  that  the  Government  will  be  compelled  to  assume  their  control,  in  order  to 
proteet  the  people  from  extortion,  and  to  secure  for  them  the  most  improved  and  ex- 
tended facilities  at  the  lowest  possible  cost.  In  this  wide  field  of  operation  no 
money-making  privilege  should  be  tolerated.  As  well  might  a charter  be  granted 
for  the  exclusive  use  of  air,  light,  or  water  ; as  well  might  a price  be  set  on  the  winds 
and  waves,  on  rivers  flowing  to  the  sea,  on  seed-time  and  harvest,  and  on  the  power 
which  causes  the  seed  to  germinate  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth  to  grow,  as  to  re- 
strict for  the  sake  of  profit  the  use  of  electrieity,  t.iat  most  subtile  and  universal  of 
God’s  mysterious  agents.  The  electric  telegraph  should  be  the  common  messenger 
of  the  human  race,  and  no  man  or  association  of  men  should  be  permitted  to  burden 
it  with  excessive  charges.  Surely  the  great  Republic  will  not  hesitate  longer  to  fol- 
low kingdoms  and  empires  in  recognizing  and  protecting  the  rights  of  the  people. 

There  are  now  but  two  parties  in  the  controversy  over  the  postal  telegraph — on 
one  side  the  people,  on  the  other  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  directors,  held  on  the  8th  of  October  last,  the  president  of  the  com- 
pany, in  his  report,  stated  its  policy,  with  commendable  candor,  in  the  following 
words : 

“ The  scale  of  rates  fixed  by  competition  on  the  most  impoitant  routes  and  between 
the  principal  cities  has  been  applied  recently  to  the  whole  country  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  so  that  the  inducement  to  subscribe  capital  for  the  extension  of  competing 
lines,  in  order  to  secure  the  benefit  of  competing  rates,  no  longer  exists.  At  the  rates 
now  established  it  is  impossible  for  any  competing  company  to  realize  profits,  and 
some  of  them  are  known  to  be,  and  all  are  believed  to  be,  operating  at  a loss.  As  a 
result  the  extension  of  competing  lines  has  ceased  and  it  is  not  believed  that  capital  can 
be  found  wherewith  to  inaugurate  new  enterprises  in  any  quarter.  The  time  is  not 
distant,  therefore,  when  the  Western  Union  Company  will  be  without  a substantial 
competitor  in  the  conduct  of  a business  which,  notwithstanding  the  enormous  growth 
of  the  last  seven  years,  still  is  in  its  infancy.  With  the  increase  of  lines  already  pro- 
vided and  now  in  progress,  the  capacity  of  which  the  duplex  apparatus  hereinbefore 
spoken  of  will  be  able  to  double  at  small  cost,  it  is  believed  that  the  constantly  in- 
creasing volume  of  business,  the  growth  of  which  will  be  stimulated  by  the  present 
low  and  uniform  rates,  can  be  successfully  handled  with  a less  annual  investment  in 
new  construction  than  has  heretofore  been  neeessary ; so  that  with  competition 
checked  and  in  process  of  being  extinguished,  the  percentage  of  expenses  may  be  re- 
duced and  the  patience  of  the  stockholders  be  rewarded  at  an  early  day  by  the  re- 
sumption of  regular  dividends.” 

The  Western  Union  Company  has  always  contended  for  high  rates  and  enforced 
them  with  a strong  hand.  When  new  associations  have  been  formed  for  the  purpose 
of  reducing  rates  the  Western  Union  has  at  once  entered  the  lists  to  destroy  its  rivals, 


164 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


and  in  pursuit  of  victory  has  not  scrupled  to  use  any  device  which  the  powerful  can 
■employ  against  tho  weak.  Failing  to  vanquish  its  adversary  in  the  open  field  of  fair 
competition,  it  has  resorted  to  artifice  and  triumphed  by  making  gold  its  weapon. 
Thus  it  has  acquired,  by  lease  or  purchase,  the  lines  of  the  American  Telegraph  Com- 
pany, the  Illinois  and  Mississippi  Company,  the  Chicago  and  Mississippi  Company, 
and  the  California  State  Company  ; and  during  the  past  year  it  has  obtained  control 
of  the  International  Ocean  and  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  Telegraph  Companies  by 
buying  up  a majority  of  their  stock. 

Its  president  has  attributed  a loss  of  profits  in  part  to  “ a reduction  of  rates  ren- 
dered necessary  by  the  action  of  competing  companies”  along  their  lines,  and  in 
‘‘‘other  sections”  to  a similar  reduction  made  “ in  order  to  equalize  rates  and  thereby 
remove  the  inducement  for  competing  lines  to  extend  still  farther,”  thus  evincing  a 
settled  purpose  to  reduce  rates  only  that  it  might  exterminate  competing  companies 
n,lready  organized  or  which  it  feared  would  be  organized. 

During  seven  years  of  this  enforced  abstinence  from  high  dividends,  it  is  admitted 
in  the  above-mentioned  report  that  the  company  has  realized  “net  profits”  to  the 
immense  amount  of  $20,312,618  ; and  that,  after  paying  out  of  such  profits  for  divi- 
d.ends  to  stockholders  $4,857,239,  for  interest  on  the  company’s  bonds  $2,216,194,  for 
its  own  stock  $4,054,483,  for  stock  of  Gold  and  Stock  Company  $1,173,509,  for  bonds 
of  Western  Union  Company,  redeemed  and  canceled,  $974,075,  for  real  estate,  exclu- 
sive of  Broadway  and  Dey  street  property,  $318,263,  for  patent  of  Page  and  duplex 
apparatus  $73,758,  for  sinking-fund  $249,555,  and  other  smaller  sums,  it  managed  with 
the  residue  to  effect  such  extensions  and  purchases  as  increased  its  wires  from  70,000 
to  160,o00  miles.  After  this  admirable  exposition  of  what  has  been  accomplished  by 
■“  net  profits,”  it  is  to  be  regretted  that  there  had  not  been  placed  by  the  side  of  it, 
for  the  gratification  of  a curious  public,  an  equally  lucid  statement  of  the  amount  of 
cash  capital  paid  in  by  the  stockholders  of  the  Western  Union  Company,  and  of  the 
companies  out  of  which  it  has  been  compounded.  Elated  as  he  must  have  been  by  a 
contemplation  of  the  manner  in  which  the  “ net  profits”  had  swept  away  all  oppo- 
sition, present  or  prospective,  President  Orton  might  well  say,  in  the  language  quoted 
from  his  report,  that  “ the  time  is  not  distant  when  the  Western  Union  Company  will 
be  without  a substantial  competitor  in  the  conduct  of  a business  which,  notwith- 
standing the  enormous  growth  of  the  last  seven  years,  still  is  in  its  infancy.” 

What  a pleasing  prospect  for  the  people  ! Here  it  is  in  brief:  A powerful  monopoly 
{unchecked  by  opposition  or  the/ear  of  it  in  the  future,  has  adroitly  secured  possession 
cf  the  whole  country,  and  now  issues  its  proclamation  that  henceforth  there  will  be 
no  more  competition,  no  more  reductions  of  rates,  but  always  “ regular  dividends.” 

But  the  president  of  the  Western  Union  Company  did  not  exhaust  his  candor  in  the 
quotation  above  made.  He  further  declared  : 

“The  franks  issued  to  Government  officials  constitute  nearly  a third  of  the  total 
complimentary  business.  The  wires  of  the  Western  Union  Company  extend  into 
thirty-seven  States  and  nine  Territories  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  and 
into  four  of  the  British  Provinces.  In  all  of  them  our  property  is  more  or  less  sub- 
ject to  the  action  of  the  national.  State,  and  municipal  authorities,  and  the  judicious 
use  of  complimentary  franks  among  them  has  been  the  means  of  saving  to  the  com- 
pany many  times  the  money- value  of  the  free  service  performed.” 

In  another  part  of  the  same  report  it  is  stated  that  the  total  complimentary  busi- 
ness amounted  during  the  last  year  to  $58,000  Then,  assuming  the  assertion  last 
cited  to  be  correct,  the  “judicious  use”  of  complimentary  franks  to  the  amount  of 
$19,333  secured  such  action  or  non-action,  whichever  the  company  desired,  on  the  part 
of  the  officials  of  the  United  States  and  of  thirty-seven  States,  nine  Territories,  and 
four  provinces,  as  was  equivalent  to  “ many  times  the  money-value  of  the  free  serv- 
ice performed.”  Truly  a most  “judicious  use  ” of  patronage ! For  if  the  subsidiz- 
ing process  included  only  the  principal  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial  officers  of 
the  governments.  States,  Territories,  and  provinces  above  mentiouetl,  the  average 
value  of  the  “complimentary  frank”  to  each  person  could  not  have  exceeded  $5,  or 
or  $10  at  the  utmost.  It  is  presumed  that  hereafter  very  few  “ officials”  will  be  will- 
ing to  accept  any  courtesy,  great  or  small,  from  the  Western  Union  Company,  now 
that  they  have  been  informed  that  the  company  will  place  the  recipients  of  its  favors 
upon  its  roll  of  retainers  and  advertise  them  as  such. 

The  telegrajih  should  be  made  a part  of  the  postal  system  without  further  delay. 
As  Congress  does  no*:  seem  inclined  to  exercise  the  discretion  given  in  the  third  sec- 
tion of  the  act  of  July  24,  1866,  to  appoint  appraisers  to  value  the  “lines,  property, 
n,nd  efiects”  of  the  companies  now  in  operation,  and  as  the  Western  Union  Company 
appears  to  be  unwilling  to  make  a voluntary  sale  at  a fair  price,  I recommend  that 
provision  be  made  by  law  for  the  immediate  establishment  of  the  postal  telegraph, 
and  for  the  construction  of  all  such  lines  as  may  be  needed,  under  the  direction  of 
competent  officers  of  the  Engineer  Corps  of  the  Army.  The  experience  they  acquired 
<liiring  the  war  of  the  rebellion  would  enable  them  to  do  the  work  in  the  most  eco- 
nomical and  satisfactory  manner. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


165 


[Hon.  Horace  Maynard;  page  42;  November  13,  1880.] 

During  my  visit  to  the  British  post-office  I examined  with  much  interest  the  sys- 
tem of  telegraphy  for  several  years  past  connected  with  the  postal  service.  This 
method  of  correspondence  is  thought  to  have  made  a great  advance  since  it  waa. 
changed  from  the  management  of  private  corporations,  responsible  to  nobody,  hardly 
to  public  opinion,  and  placed  under  the  control  of  the  Government.  The  business 
has  increased  many  fold,  the  cost  of  seudiug  messages  has  been  largely  reduced,  and 
the  service  is  performed  in  localities  it  would  never  have  reached  under  the  pecu- 
niary stimulus  of  private  enterprise.  At  the  same  time  it  yields  a margin  of  profit 
to  the  royal  treasury.  Is  it  not  time  for  us  to  renew  the  inquiry  whether  it  is  wise 
for  us  to  leave  this  important  instrument  of  correspondence  in  charge  of  corporations 
whose  primary  object  is  gain  to  the  managers  and  stockholders,  and  the  convenience 
of  the  public  secondary  only  ? 

[Hon.  T.  O.  Howe;  pages  27,  28,  29,  30;  November  18,  1882.] 

Another  and  broader  field  of  activity  not  yet  occupied  by  our  postal  establish- 
ment is  that  of  the  telegraph.  In  almost  all  countries,  save  this,  telegraph  service  is 
conducted  by  the  postal  authorities.  Presidents,  postmasters-general,  and  commit- 
tees of  both  houses  of  Congress  have  heretofore  urged  that  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment of  the  United  States  should  take  exclusive  possessiou  of  that  service.  Already 
Congress  has  provided  a mode  for  adjusting  the  terms  upon  which  the  United  States 
may  purchase  all  telegraph  lines,  either  for  postal  or  other  purposes.  (Revised  Stat- 
utes, section  5267.) 

After  the  fullest  consideration  I have  been  able  to  give  to  the  subject,  I am  forced 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  time  has  fully  come  when  the  telegraph  and  i)ostal  service 
should  be  embraced  under  one  management.  The  whole  subject  has  been  argued  in. 
former  years.  I shall  do  but  little  more  than  summarize  that  argument. 

The  business  of  the  telegraph  is  inherently  the  same  as  that  of  the  mail.  It  is  ta 
transmit  messages  from  one  person  to  another.  That  is  the  very  purpose  for  which 
post-offices  and  post-roads  are  established.  The  power  to  establish  is  not  limited  to 
any  particular  modes  of  transmission.  The  telegraph  was  not  known  when  the  Con- 
stitution was  adopted.  Neither  was  the  railway.  I can  not  doubt  that  the  power  to 
employ  one  is  as  clear  as  to  employ  the  other. 

If  the  union  of  the  two8ervic<‘s  did  not  improve  that  of  the  telegraph  at  all,  I think 
it  would  improve  the  postal  service  iu  some  important  respects.  It  would  necessitate 
the  employment  of  telegraph  operators  for  postmasters  in  many  offices.  That  would 
result  in  giving  to  the  administration  of  not  a few  offices  men  who  have  learned  to  da 
one  thing  in  place  of  those  who  have  never  learned  to  do  anything.  If  the  two  offices 
were  united  whenever  a mail  did  not  arrive  on  time,  the  public  thronging  the  post- 
office  would  learn,  not  merely  that  the  mail  had  not  arrived,  but  when  it  would  ar- 
rive. 

Again  the  necessity  for  delivering  messages  would  facilitate  and  gradually  draw- 
after  it  the  free  delivery  of  mails  in  places  where  free  delivery  iu  itself  is  impracti- 
cable. 

But  a union  of  two  services  would,  I believe,  improve  the  telegraph  more  than  it: 
would  the  postal  service. 

I prefer  no  accusation  against  the  administration  of  the  former  service.  Admitting 
it  to  be  honest  and  efficient,  the  fact  remains  that  it  is  not  cheap  and  under  corporate- 
control  it  can  not  be  cheap.  Rent  for  both  services  would  cost  but  little  more  than 
the  cost  for  one.  So  of  fuel  and  of  light.  Where  there  is  now  a free  delivery  of  mail,, 
telegraph  messages  could  be  delivered  at  less  cost  by  the  post-office  than  by  a cor- 
poration. Besides,  if  the  business  was  controlled  by  the  Government  there  would  be- 
but  a single  manageipent  for  tlie  whole.  The  business  is  now  charged  with  the  cost, 
of  many  different  managements.  One  direction  is  cheaper  than  several. 

Again,  corporations  will  seek,  and  ought  to  have,  not  only  lemuneration  for  cost  of 
administration,  but  interest  on  the  capital  investecl.  Telegraph  companies  seek  and 
secure  a large  interest  on  their  capital ; and  what  is  still  more  burdensome  to  the 
public  is  the  fact  that  the  aggregate  outlay  of  the  companies  is  always  greatly  in  ex- 
cess of  the  actual  cost  of  their  property. 

The  office  of  the  telegraph  is  not  indispensable  iu  the  sense  that  air,  water,  and 
food  are;  but  it  is  so  essential  to  social,  political,  and  commercial  life  that  it  must  ba 
had.  If  it  can  not  be  obtained  at  one  price  it  will  be  at  another.  No  one  corporation 
has  been  or  will  be  allowed  quietly  to  monopolize  the  business.  No  one  set  of  men 
will  be  permitted  exclusively  to  sell  services  which  all  must  have.  And  yet,  while 
monopoly  will  not  be  permitted,  competition  be,\ond  a certain  point  can  not  be  tol- 
erated. When  cotnj)etition  profits  the  y)ublic  who  purchase  the  service  it  becomea 
injurious  to  the  companies  which  sell.  When  it  becomes  injurious  to  the  companies 
the  competition  is  extinguished  by  the  purchase  and  absorption  of  the  competitor.. 


166 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


The  price  paid  for  the  franchises  of  a rival  concerns  the  purchaser  but  little;  it  con- 
cerns the  public  deeply.  The  people  must  pay  the  fees  which  will  yield  dividends  on 
the  new  and  on  the  old  capital.  So  it  has  happened  that  the  one  corporation  which 
has  built  most  miles  of  telegraph  has  been  the  largest  purchaser  of  telegraph  prop- 
erty. It  must  continue  to  be  so.  No  matter  how  rich  a company  may  be,  it  is  pow- 
erless to  prevent  the  organization  of  new  and  competing  eucerprises.  Its  sole  pro- 
tection is  to  buy  when  the  new  rival  proves  hurtful.  No  matter  how  conservative  or 
just  may  be  the  management  of  the  purchasing  company,  it  will  demand  from  the 
public  dividends  on  the  capital  invested  to  exriuguish  the  rival.  The  only  security 
capital  can  have  against  these  recurring  raids  is  to  surrender  the  business  to  the 
Government.  The  only  protection  the  Government  can  have  against  these  multiplied 
exactions  is  for  the  Government  to  assume  the  exclusive  control  over  the  transmis- 
sion of  domestic  messages  by  electricity  which  it  now  has  over  the  slower  methods  by 
steam  and  stage  coach.  Safety  for  those  who  sell  and  those  who  buy  telegraph  serv- 
ice is  promoted  by  the  same  measure. 

But  a stronger  reason  still  why  the  Government  should  control  the  telegraph,  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  it  is  as  potent  for  evil  as  for  good.  Like  government  itself  it  is 
too  terrible  to  be  wielded  by  other  than  representatives  of  the  whole  people. 

In  the  great  commercial  centers,  public  stocks,  corporate  and  mining  stocks,  bonds, 
and  the  staple  products  of  agriculture  are  bought  and  sold  daily,  to  the  amount  of 
thousands  of  millions.  In  all  those  markets  one  great  telegraph  company  wags  its 
tongue  incessantly.  For  all  those  commodities  it  is  the  arbiter  of  prices.  Prices  go 
up  and  down  according  to  its  inculcations.  Whoever  controls  its  utterances  may  at 
pleasure  buoy  a market  in  which  he  wishes  to  sell,  or  break  one  in  which  he  wi-hes  to 
buy.  That  is  an  agency  much  too  dreadful  to  intrust  to  private  hands. 

I am  far  from  assei’ting  that  a use  so  malign  ever  has  been  made  of  this  agency.  I 
speak  of  its  capabilities,  not  of  its  history.  Knowing  that  it  can  be  so  abused,  it 
seems  to  be  the  dictate  of  prudence  not  to  wait  until  it  is  so  abused.  It  is  manifest 
that  even  when  the  Government  controls  the  telegraph  a falsehood  which  may  sink  a 
stock  or  float  it  may  still  be  sent  over  the  wires.  But  truth  will  have  equal  freedom 
on  the  lines.  In  Government  hands  the  telegraph  will  maintain  an  exact  neutrality 
between  tlie  two  tierce  parties  which  day  by  day  and  year  by  year  contend  for 
supremacy  in  the  markets.  In  private  hands  it  may  become  the  mere  creature,  as 
malignant  as  mighty,  of  that  party  which  its  owner  from  time  to  time  chooses  to 
join.  If  he  choose,  he  may  give  free  course  to  falsehood,  and  if  he  choose  he  may  im- 
prison the  truth.  Who  else  can  trade  in  a market  dominated  by  such  a power? 

It  may  be  objected,  and  has  been,  that  the  measure  proposed  would  largely  extend 
the  roll  of  Federal  officials.  That  increase  has  doubtless  been  exaggerated.  At  a 
very  large  percentage  of  the  offices  the  telegraph  operator  would  not  supplement  the 
Postmaster,  but  would  supplant  him.  Besides,  I know  of  no  law  but  necessity  limit- 
ing the  employment  of  officials.  The  Government  is  not  wise  which  employs  a single 
officer  not  needed.  It  is  unwise  if  it  refuses  to  employ  thousands  when  they  are 
needed. 

Within  the  life  of  this  generation  this  Government  employed  more  than  two  and  a 
half  millions  of  officers.  They  were  all  armed.  They  did  not  destroy  the  country  ; 
they  saved  it.  It  is  not  difficult  to  find  individuals  who  employ  a thousand  men  and 
find  profit  in  i^.  It  does  not  become  fifty  millions  to  shrink'from  employing  a hundred 
thousand  if  they  have  need  for  their  services. 

[Hon.  W.  Q.  Gresham,  pages  33,  34, 35,  36,  and  37,  November  19,  1883.] 

The  subject  of  telegraphy  in  connection  with  our  postal  system  is  one  of  special 
and  increasing  interest.  It  has  in  all  its  aspects  and  relations  been  so  fully  discussed 
in  the  reports  of  this  Department,  as  well  as  in  Congress  and  by  the  press,  as  to  ob- 
viate the  necessity  of  an  elaborate  presentation  of  it  in  this  report.  I may,  however, 
remark  that  the  impiession  widely  prevails  that  our  means  of  telegraphic  communi- 
cation should  not  be  lin)ited  to  such  as  are  furnished  by  private  companies  which 
enjoy  a monopoly  and  claim  to  be  exempt  from  Government  control  in  their  relations 
with  the  ])ublic.  Several  substitutes  for  the  present  system  have  been  suggested  : 
1st.  The  acquisition  and  oi)eration  of  the  existing  lines  by  the  Government.  2d. 
The  construction  by  the  Government  of  lines  which  it  will  operate  in  competitiou 
with  existing  comj)anies.  3d.  The  creation  of  a company  by  which  lines  of  telegraph 
are  to  be  supplied  to  the  capital  of  each  State,  and  other  places  having  a given  num- 
ber of  inhabitants,  or  where  stations  are  now  maintained,  or  the  business  of  the 
country  may  hereafter  require  them.  The  company,  in  consideration  of  the  special 
powers  conferred  by  Congress,  is,  at  certain  reduced  rates  to  be  prepaid  by  stamps, 
to  transmit  messages  at  a compensation  to  be  paid  by  the  United  States  not  to  exceed 
10  per  centum  upon  its  authorized  capital  stock  over  and  above  operating  expenses. 
The  Goverument  is  obliged  to  furnish  at  each  station  the  requisite  accommodations 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


167 


for  tbe  officers  employed  in  the  transaction  of  business,  and  to  assume  the  duty  of 
receiving  messages,  and  delivering  by  mail  or  otherwise  such  as  are  transmitted. 

I merely  state  in  the  most  geueral  form  the  leading  features  of  each  of  these  plans. 
It  will  be  perceived  that  they  are  essentially  different.  The  first  two  contemplate 
that  the  Government  shall  owm  and  operate  the  lines,  including  all  the  necessary  ap- 
paratus; and  the  third  that  a company  shall  be  employed  to  perform  the  required 
service  at  a stipulated  compensation. 

The  Constitution  confers  upon  Congress  the  power  to  ‘‘establish  post-offices  and 
post- roads,”  “ to  regulate  commerce  among  the  several  States,”  and  “ to  make  all  law’s 
which  shalTbe  necessary  and  proper  for  carrying  into  execution  ” the  expressly  granted 
powers. 

The  question  arises  whether,  under  such  comprehensive  terms,  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  postal  system  are  warranted  by  the  Constitution.  So  far  as  the  clause 
relating  to  post-offices  and  post-roads  is  concerned,  the  subject  has  received  careful 
consideration  by  committees  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  In  speaking  of  tbe 
modes  of  transmitting  intelligence  which  have  been  introduced  since  tbe  adoption  of 
tbe  Constitution,  tbe  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means,  in  a report  submitted  to  the 
House  more  than  forty  years  ago,  makes  the  following  just  remarks:  “But though 
not  anticipated  or  forseeu,  these  uew  and  improved  modes  were  as  clearly  wdthin  the 
purview  of^the  Constitution  as  were  the  older  and  less  perfect  ones  with  which  our 
ancestors  were  familiar. 

# jf  # 

“ The  same  principal  which  justified  and  demanded  the  transference  of  the  mail 
■on  many  chief  routes  from  the  horse-drawn  coach  on  common  highways  to  steam- 
impelled  vehicles  on  land  and  water,  is  eipially  potent  to  w’arrant  the  calling  of  the 
electro-magnetic  telegraph  in  aid  of  the  post-office  in  discharge  of  its  great  function 
of  rapidly  transmitting  correspondence  and  intelligence.” 

Tbe  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the  House  lu  1:^75,  in  an  elaborate  report  in 
which  the  constitutional  provision  is  discussed  with  marked  ability,  reached  the  same 
conclusion. 

Our  court  of  last  resort,  in  Pensacola  Telegraph  Company  r.  Western  Union  Tele- 
graph Company,  96  IT.  S.,  1, 9,  holds  as  follow’s : “ 'fhe  powers  thus  granted  are  not  con- 
fined to  the  instrumentalities  of  commerce  or  the  postal  service  known  or  in  use  when 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  but  they  keep  pace  with  the  progress  otthe  couutr3%  and 
adapt  themselves  to  the  new’ developments  of  time  and  circumstances.  They  extend 
from  the  horse  with  its  rider  to  the  stage-coach,  from* the  sailing  vessel  to  the  steam- 
boat, from  the  coach  and  the  steam-boat  to  the  railroad,  and  from  the  railroad  to  the 
telegraph,  as  these  new’  agencies  are  successively  brought  into  use  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  increasing  population  aud  wealth.  They  were  intended  for  the  government 
of  the  business  to  which  they  relate,  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances.  As 
they  w'ere  intrusted  to  the  Geueral  Government  for  the  good  of  the  nation,  it  is  not 
only  the  right,  but  the  duty  of  Congress  to  see  to  it  that  intercourse  among  the 
States  and  the  transmission  of  intelligence  are  not  obstructed  or  unnecessarily  encum- 
bered by  State  legislation.” 

From  the  best  consideration  w’hich  I have  been  enabled  to  bestow  upon  the  sub- 
ject, I have  reached  the  conclusion  that  Congress  has  the  constitutional  power  in 
providing  for  the  postal  service  o^^  the  country  to  avail  itself  of  all  the  facilities  de- 
vised bj^  the  inventive  genius  of  modern  times  for  transmitting  messages  and  intelli- 
gence, and  that  it  has  full  authority  to  adopt  either  of  the  first  two  plans  which  I 
have  mentioned. 

The  third  section  of  tbe  act  of  July  24,  1886,  14  Stat.,22,  secured  to  the  United 
States,  at  any  time  after  the  expiration  of  five  years  from  that  date,  the  right  to  pur- 
chase at  an  appraised  value  “ the  lines,  property,  and  effects”  of  any  or  all  the  com- 
panies which,  in  the  mode  prescribed,  availed  themselves  of  the  benefit  and  privileges 
« conferred  by  the  act.  All  the  leading  companies  have  accepted  the  act.  Independ- 
entlj’,  however,  of  its  jirovisions,  the  United  States  Government,  by  the  exercise  of  its 
right  of  eminent  domain,  has  the  undoubted  authority  to  appropriate  property  within 
the  respective  States,  for  its  own  uses  and  to  enable  it. to  perform  its  proper  functions. 
“Such  an  authority,”  says  the  Supreme  Court,  in  Kohl  v.  United"  States,  91  U.  S., 
367,371,  “is  essential  to  its  independent  existence  and  perpetuity.”  In  whatever 
mode  the  existing  lines  be  acquired,  full  compensation  for  them  must  be  made. 

From  the  earliest  period  it  has  been  assumed,  aud  in  later  times  judicially  deter- 
mined, that  the  power  of  Congress  over  the  postal  system  extends  to  the  absolute 
prohibition  of  the  business  of  carrying  letters  upon  the  established  post-roads  or 
roads  parallel  thereto.  It,  therefore,  follows  that  if  the  telegraph  be  adopted  as  a 
branch  of  the  postal  service,  all  competition  therewith  may  be  prohibited. 

Tbe  commerce  clause  of  tbe  Constitution,  so  far  as  it  bears  upon  this  question,  re- 
mains to  be  considered.  It  bas  been  determined  by  tbe  Supreme  Court  that  the  tele- 
graph is  an  instrument  of  commerce,  and  as  such  is  subject  to  the  regulating  pow’er 
of  Congress.  “A  telegraph  company,”  says  the  court-in  Telegraph  Company  v.  Texas, 


168 


POSTAL  TELEGEAPH  FACILITIES 


» 

105  U.  S.,  460,  464,  “ occupies  the  same  relation  to  commerce  as  a carrier  of  messages,, 
that  a railroad  company  does  as  a carrier  of  goods.  Both  companies  are  instruments-  ' 
of  commerce,  and  their  business  is  commerce  itself.  They  do  their  transportation  in 
different  ways,  and  their  liabilities  are  in  some  respects  different,  but  they  are  both 
indispensable  to  those  engaged  to  any  considerable  extent  in  commercial  pursuits.’^ 
That  clause  does  not,  however,  authorize  the  regulation  of  the  business  of  transmit- 
ting messages  by  telegraph  between  points  wholly  within  a State. 

The  establishment  and  operation  of  a postal  telegraph  as  a monopoly,  or  in  compe- 
tition with  xjrivate  companies,  would,  it  is  insisted,  reduce  rates  which  are  now  exor- 
bitant and  protect  the  public  against  the  abuses  and  evils  deemed  to  be  inseparable 
from  the  service  as  it  exists.  In  either  event  an  enormous  expense  must  be  incurred ► 
But  without  dwelling  upon  that  consideration,  it  is  clear  that  an  efficient  execution 
of  either  plan  will  necessarily  involve  the  employment  of  a multitude  of  operators, 
messengers,  mechanics,  and  laborers,  and  thus  largely  add  to  the  patronage  of  the 
Government.  An  increase  of  that  patronage  beyond  what  is  indispensable  to  the 
public  service  is  to  be  deprecated  and  avoided,  and  it  is  one  of  the  dangers  which 
threaten  the  purity  and  duration  of  our  institutions.  In  Europe  the  telegraph  ia 
under  the  control  of  the  public  authorities.  With  us,  the  administration  is  the  gov- 
ernment in  action,  and  may,  for  the  time  being  and  for  all  practical  purposes,  be  con- 
sidered the  Government  itself.  In  seasons  of  political"  excitement,  and,  to  some  ex- 
tent at  other  times,  is  there  not  ground  for  serious  apprehension  that  the  telegraph, 
under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  dominant  party,  might  be  abused  to  promote  par- 
tisan purposes  and  perpetuate  the  power  of  the  administration?  But  if  it  could  bo 
kept  entirely  free  from  such  influence,  I should  hesitate  to  sanction  a measure  pro-  . 
viding  that  the  United  States  shall  bfcome  the  proprietor  of  telegraph  lines,  and 
operate  them  by  its  officers  and  agents. 

The  incorporation  of  a company  with  a charter  having  the  essential  features  to- 
'which  I have  adverted  finds  in  some  quarters  advocates,  and  has  been  heretofore  con- 
sidered by  Congress.  Its  employment  for  the  purpose  in  question  is  not  subject  to 
some  of  the  objections  justly  urged  against  the  other  plans,  and  by  many  is  preferred 
to  either  of  them.  A reduction  of  rates,  will,  it  is  believed,  be  thereby  seemed.  The 
duty  of  receiving  and  delivering  telegrams  will  be  discharged  by  the  officers  of  this 
Department.  That  the  adoption  of  this  plan  would  result  in  a considerable  increase 
of  officials  and  employes  is  undeniable.  Conceding  that  Congress  has  authority  to- 
incorporate  a company  and  clothe  it  with  the  power  necessary  for  the  effectual  ac- 
complishment of  the  purpose  in  view,  such  a measure  will  inaugurate  a new  policy, 
the  adoption  of  which  I do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  recommend. 

If  Congress  can  create  such  a company,  it  may  incorporate  railway  and  other  com- 
panies, and  contract  with  them  for  the  carriage  of  the  mails ; and  if  this  may  be  done 
it  will  not  be  denied  that  the  Government  may  build  railways  and  other  roads,  and 
construct  and  equip  vessels  f r postal  purposes.  The  Po.--t master- General  in  1800 
established  at  the  expense  of  the  United  States  a line  of  stages  for  the  conveyance  of 
the  mails  between  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia,  and  although  the  contract  system  now 
prevails,  Congress  may  unquestionably  direct  its  abandonment  and  the  substitution 
of  its  own  vehicles  in  lieu  of  those  furnished  by  the  contractors.  Congress  by  such 
legislation  would  thus  enter  upon  a new  s})here  of  action  which  there  is  reason  to 
fear  would  be  the  first  step  in  a dangerous  direction.  The  patronage  of  the  general 
Government  would  be  enormously  increased,  and  its  jurisdiction  extended  to  matters 
heretofore  confined  to  State  legislation  or  private  enterprise.  The  injurious  tendency 
of  such  legislation  can  not  well  bo  overestimated. 

As  to  telegraphic  service  wholly  within  the  several  States,  unless  the  power  to 
establish  post-offices  and  post-roads  be  successfully  invoked,  the  existing  rates  are 
beyond  governmental  control.  The  opinion  has  been  advanced  that  inasmuch  as 
Congress  ha^  authority  to  take  charge  of  the  telegraph  as  a jiart  of  the  postal  sys- 
tem, it  may  do  nothing  in  that  direction  and  yet  prohibit  citizens  and  private  com-^ 
pauies  from  engaging  in  the  business,  unless  they  comply  with  prescribed  terms  aud^ 
conditions.  It  is  said  that  the  greater  power  necessarily  includes  the  less,  or  in  - 
other  words,  that  the  ab.solute  i)ower  to  prohibit  includes  the  limited  power  to  regu- 
late. The  doctrine  has  eviden’tly  no  api)lication.  It  is  only  by  exercising  its  power 
in  some  of  the  modes  already  discussed,  or  in  some  other  appropriate  way,  that  the- 
Government  can  iirescribe  terms  upon  which  competition  will  be  permitted,  or  pro- 
hibit it  altogether.  When  a line  is  neither  owned,  controlled,  or  operated  by  the 
Government,  nor  in  its  behalf,  a telegra))!!  company  in  the  transaction  of  so  much  of 
its  business  as  is  confined  within  the  limits  of  a State  is  beyond  the  reach  of  Con- 
gress. 

1 have  endeavored  to  maintain  the  authority  of  Congress  to  assume  control  of  the 
telegra])!!  because  it  has  been  and  still  is  seriously  disputed.  The  existing  com- 
panies operate  their  lines  solely  for  the  purpose  of  making  money,  and  while  it  is^ 
doubtless  true  that  their  rates,  as  a whole,  are  unreasonable,  yet  in  view  of  what 
has  already  been  said.  I do  not.  think  the  evils  complained  of  are  so  grievous  as  to- 
call  for  Congressional  intervention. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


169 


[Hon.  Don  M.  Dickinson,  November  28, 1888,  page  39.] 

If  the  correspondence  of  the  country  is  to  continue  to  be  under  the  charge  and  pro- 
tection of  the  Government,  the  vast  and  increasing  volume  conducted  by  telegraphy 
and  the  right  of  the  great  body  of  the  people  to  be  afforded  facilities  for  the  best  and 
quickest  transmission  at  rates  within  the  means  of  all  will  press  this  subject  upon  the 
attention  of  the  Congress  with  more  and  more  urgency.  The  chief  difficulties  in  the 
way  are  the  great  cost  of  present  methods  and  the  absence  of  safeguards  which,  ac- 
cording to  the  theory  of  the  present  mail- service,  should  protect  the  privacy  of  cor- 
respondence. I have  given  the  subject  much  consideration,  and  I believe  that  the 
inventive  genius  of  this  country  has  reached  a stage  in  discovery  in  electric  science 
when  these  problems  may  be  solved.  The  subject  is  of  such  great  importance  to  the 
people  that  I believe  an  opportunity  should  be  given  for  the  presentation  and  ex- 
amination of  inventions  which  have  been  informally  presented  to  the  committees 
of  Congress  the  Department  and  the  public,  and  that  a stimulus  should  be  given 
to  inventors  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  improvement  of  old  methods.  I recom- 
mend the  appointment  of  a commission  of  competent  and  disinterested  men,  learned 
in  the  science,  who  may  examine  inventions  and  invite  others,  who  shall  be  author- 
ized to  erect  short  experimental  lines,  and  who  shall  report  to  the  President  or  to 
Congress  the  result  of  their  investigations. 


Appendix  H. 

BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS,  REPORTS  AND  DOCUMENTS,  AND  SPEECHES 
IN  CONGRESS,  SUPPORTING  OR  OPPOSING  POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

REPORTS  AND  OTHER  DOCUMENTS  PRINTED. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Class. 

Author. 

Subject. 

39 

1 

June  2, 1866 

Senate  Ex. 
Doc.  49. 

William  Dennison,  Post- 
master-General. 

Letter  in  answer  to  a 
resolution  of  the  Senate 
relative  to  postal  tele- 
graphy. 

40 

2 

May  18, 1868 

HouseMis. 
Doc.  129. 

E.  B.  Washburn  of  Illinois  (R). 

Paper  to  accompany 
House  bill  1083  entitled 
“Union  of  the  Tele- 
graph and  the  Postal 
System.” 

40 

3 

Jan.  11, 1869 

House  Ex.Doc. 
35. 

A.  W.  Randall,  Postmaster- 
General. 

Letter  transmitting  a re- 
port of  G.  G.  Hubbard. 

40 

3 

Feb.  24. 1869 

House  report 
32. 

J.  F.  Farnsworth  of  Illinois 
lR.),Committeeon  the  Post- 
office  and  Post-Roads  : J.  F. 
Farnsworth  (111.  R. ),  T.  W. 
Ferry  (Mich.,  R. ),  G.  V. 
Lawrence  (Pa.,  R. ),  R.  W. 
Clark  (Ohio  R.),  W.S.  Lin- 
coln (N.  Y.,  R.),  John  Lynch 
(Me.,R.),  John  Hill  (N.  J. 
R. ),  John  Fox  (N.  Y,  D. ), 
and  J.  A.  Johnson, (Cal.,  D.) . 

To  accompany  bills  H.  R. 
1083,  1415, 1504,  and  1689. 
Adverse. 

\ 

41 

2 

Jan.  31, 1870 

Senate  report 
18. 

0 

Alexander  Ramsey  of  Minne- 
sota (R).  Committee  on 
Post-Office  and  Post-Roads ; 
Alex.  Ramsey  (Minn.,  R. ), 

S.  C.  Pomeroy  (Kan.,  R. ), 
Alex.  McDonald  (Ark.,E.), 
Hannibal  Hamlin  (Me.,  R.), 
Cornelius  Cole  (Cal.,  R. ), 
Ahijah  Gilbert  (Fla.,  R. ), 
and  A.  G.  Thurman  (Ohio, 
D.). 

Cyrus  W.  Field 

To  accompany  bill  S.  422. 
FaTorable. 

41 

2 

Apr.  14, 1870 

HouseMis. 
Doc.  126. 

Memorial  relative  to  tele- 
graphic communication 
between  America  and 
A sia. 

41 

2 

June  24, 1870 

HouseMis. 
Doc.  149. 

Isaac  K.  Roberts,  president 
Florida  Telegraph  Company. 

Memorial  of  Florida  Tele- 
graph Company. 

41 

2 

June  27,1870 

House  Ex.Doc. 
301. 

George  S.  BoutweJl,  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury. 

Letter  on  gross  receipt.^ 
of  telegraph  companies. 

41 

2 

June  29, 1870 

Senate  Mis. 
Dor.  161. 

William  F.  Smith,  president 
International  Ocean  Tele- 
graph Company. 

Memorial  of  the  Interna- 
tional Ocean  Telegraph 
Company. 

170 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing postal  telegraphy — Continued. 

REPORTS  AND  OTHER  DOCUMENTS  PRINTED -Continued.  "" 


Con-  Ses- 
gress.  sion. 


Date. 


Class. 


Author. 


Subject. 


41 


41 

41 


41 

41 

41 


41 


41 

42 


42 


42 


42 


42 


42 

42 


2 July  5, 1870 


2 July  5,1870 

3 Dec.  14,1870 

3 Jan.  18,1871 
3 Jan.  19,1871 
3 Feb.  6,1871 


3 

2 Jan.  9, 1872 

2 Jan.  22, 1872. 

2 Feb.  13, 1872 

2 Feb.  21, 1872 

2 Mar.  27, 1872 

2 Apr.  23, 1872 
2-  May  9,1872 


House  Report 
114. 


House  Report 
115. 

Senate  Mis. 
Doc.  15. 


C.  C.  Washburn,  of  Wisconsin 
(R.).  Select  Committee  on 
Postal  Telegraph  lines:  C.G. 
Washburn  (Wis.,  R.),  Will- 
iam Lawrence  (Ohio,  R.), 
H.  L.  Dawes  (Mass.,  R.), 
Noah  Davis  (N.  Y.,  R.), 
Frank  W.  Palmer  (Iowa, 
R.),  G.W.  Woodward  (Pa., 
D.),  and  J.  B.  Beck  (Ky., 
D.). 

F.  W.  Palmer,  of  Iowa  (R.,  Se- 
lect Committee  as  ab.jve. 

William  C.  Barney 


House  Mis. 

Doc.  36. 
House  Mis. 

Doc.  39. 
Senate  Mis. 
Doc.  53. 


House  Journal, 
page  173. 


C.  C.  Washburn. 

Gardiner  G.  Hubbard 

Robert  Squires,  Lyman  Tre- 
niain,  Erastus  Corning,  jr., 
Hiram  Barney,  Geo.  W. 
Riggs,  J.  H.  Lathrop,  Geo. 
Harrington,  and  W.  C.  Bar- 
ney. 

C.  C.  Washburn 


Senate  Ex.Doc. 
5. 

Senate  Ex.Doc. 
14. 


Hamilton  Fish,  Secretary  of 
State. 

William  W.  Belknap,  Secre- 
tary of  War. 


Senate  Report 

20. 


House  Ex. 
Doc,  123. 


Alexander  Ramsey,  Commit- 
tee on  Post-Offices  and  Post- 
Roads:  Alex.  Ramsey,  S. 
C.  Pomeroy,  Abijah  Gilbert, 
Cornelius  Colei  Hannibal 
Hamlin,  T.W. Ferry  (Mich., 
R ),  and  J.  K.  Kelly  (Ore- 
gon, D.). 

William  W.  Belknap,  Secre- 
tary of  War. 


Senate  Mis. 
Doc.  86. 


Senate  E x. 
Doc.  14,  Part 

2. 


William  Orton,  Horace  F. 
Clark,  E.  D.  Morgan,  Moses 
Taylor,  Alonzo  B.  Cornell, 
and  Augustus  Schell. 
William  W.  Belknap,  Secre- 
tary of  War. 


House. 


R.  B.  Lines, 


House  Report.  James  A . Garfield,  Committee 
69.  on  Appropriations:  J.  A. 

Garfield  (Ohio,  R.),  A.  A.. 
Sargent  (Cal.,  R.),  O.  J. 
Dickey  (Pa.  ,R.),  Freeman 
Clark  (N.  Y.,  R.),  F.  W. 
Palmer  (Iowa,  R ),  Eugene 
Hale  (Me.,R,),  W.  E.  Nib- 
lack  (Iiid.,  D.),  S.  S.  Mar- 
shall (111.,  D.),  and  Thomas 
Sw.ann  (Md.,  D.). 


To  accompany  bill  H.  R. 
2365.  Favorable. 


To  accompany  bill  H.  R. 
2366.  Favorable. 

Memorial  praying  the 
adoption  of  a system  of 
rules  for  the  operation 
of  international  tele- 
graph lines. 

Postal  telegraph  system 
in  Europe. 

Memorial  on  the  postal  ' 
telegraph. 

Memorial  praying  the  pas-  • 
sage  of  House  bill  2591,  ; 
relating  to  telegraph 
communication  be-  ' 
tween  the  U nited  States 
and  foreign  countries.  ; 

Communications  from  the 
postal-telegraph  admin- 
istrations of  Great  Brit-  ' 
ain,  Norway,  and  Swe- 
den. 

Letter  relative  to  tele- 
graphic rates. 

Letter  recommending  the  ^ 
construction  of  a Gov-  < 
ernment  telegraph  from  ■ 
San  Diego,  Cal.,  to  Pres-  * 
cott  and  Tucson,  Ariz.  (■ 

To  accompany  bill  S.  341. 
Favorable. 


Letter  on  expenses  of  ob-  ; 
servation  and  report  of  , 
storms  by  telegraph  and 
signal.  ; 

Memorial  of  the  Western  j 
Union  Telegraph  Com-  r 
pany  against  the  pass- 
age  of  Senate  bill  341. 

Letter  on  the  necessity  for  .? 
telegraphic  communica-  i 
tion  between  the  various  j 
military  posts  and  sta-  j 
tions  in  Arizona,  etc. 

Argument  before  the  Com- 
niittee  on  Appropria-  ^ 
tions. 

On  signal-service  and  tele-  J 
graph  companies,  to  ac-  Jj 
companyHousebill27i'5.  ^ 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  • 171 

\piUa  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing  postal  telegraphy — Continued. 

KEPOKTS  AND  OTHER  DOCUMENTS  PRINTED— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Class. 

Author. 

Subject. 

42 

2 

May  23, 1872 

Senate  Ex. 
Doc.  81. 

George  M.  Robeson,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy. 

Letter  relative  to  tele- 
graphic communication 
between  the  Eastern 
and  Western  conti- 
nents. 

42 

2 

May  24, 1872 

Senate  Ex. 
Doc.  82. 

Ulysses  S.  Grant,  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Message  communicating 
information  as  to  the 
amount  expended  by  the 
Government  for  cable- 

42 

2 

June  1, 1872 

Senate  Report 
223. 

Zachariah  Chandler.  Com- 
mittee on  Commerce ; Zach- 
ariah  Chandler  (Micb.,R.), 
H.  \V.  Corbett  (Oregon, 
R.),  W.  P.Kellogg  (La.,R.), 
G.  E.  Spencer  (Ala.,  R.), 
W.  A.  Buckingham  (Conn., 
R.),  Roscoe  Conkliug  (N. 
Y.,  R.),  George  Vickers 
(Md.,  D.). 

grams. 

With  reference  to  that 
portion  of  the  Presi- 
dent’s message  that  re- 
lates to  the  telegraph 
system  of  the  United 
States.  Favorable. 

42 

2 

Nov.  6,1872 
to 

Dec.  30,1872 

Joseph  Medill  and  William 
Orton. 

Correspondence  on  the 
Government  and  the  tel- 
egraph. 

42 

3 

Dec,  19,1872 

Senate  Report 
242. 

Alexander  Ramsey.  Commit- 
tee on  Post-Offices  and  Post- 
Roads:  Alexander  Ramsey, 
S.  C.  Pomeroy,  Cornelius 
Cole,  Hannibal  Hamlin,  T. 
W.  Ferry,  J.  W.  Flanagan 
(Tex  , R.),  and  J.  K.  Kelly. 

To  accompany  Senate  bill 
341.  Favorable. 

42 

3 

Dec.  19,1872 

House  Report 

6. 

Frank  W.  Palmer.  Commit- 
tee on  Appropriations: 
Same  as  those  of  Forty-sec- 
ond Congress,  second  ses- 
sion. 

To  accompany  House  bill 
3261.  Favorable. 

42 

3 

Jan.  28,1873 

House  Mis. 
Doc.  73. 

James  A.  Garfield.  Commit- 
tee on  Appropriations,  as 
above. 

Proceedings  in  the  matter 
of  the  postal  telegraph, 
and  paper  entitled  “ The 
Relation  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  the  Telegraph,” 
by  David  A.  Wells. 

42 

3 

Feb.  18,1873 

Sen  ate  Mis. 
Doc.  79. 

Gardner  G.  Hubbard 

Memorial  in  reply  to  the 
above  paper  of  David 
A.  Wells. 

43 

1 

Jan.  20,1874 

Senate  

William  Orton 

Argument  on  the  postal 
telegraph  bill  before 
the  Committee  (Senate 
bill  123). 

43 

1 . 

Jan.  23, 1874 

House  Ex.  Doc. 
76. 

John  A.  J.  Creswell,  P.  M.  G. . 

Letter  in  relation  to  postal 
savings  institutions  and 
also  the  postal-telegraph 
system. 

To  accompany  Senate  bill 
651.  Favorable. 

43 

1 

Apr.  2,1874 

Senate  Report 
242. 

Alexander  Ramsey.  Commit- 
tee on  Post-Offices  and  Post- 
Roads:  Alexander  Ramsey, 
Hannibal  Hamlin,  T.  W. 
Ferry,  J.  W.  Flanagan,  S. 
W.  Dorsey  (Ark.,  R ),  J.  P. 
Jones  (Nev.,R.),  Eli  Sauls- 
bury)  Del.,  D.),  A.  S.  Merri- 
mon  (N.C.,  D.),  and  J.W. 
•Johnston  ( Va.,  D.). 

S.  W.  Dorsey.  Committee 
same  as  those  of  Forty- 
third  Congress,  first  se.ssion. 

Benjamin  F.  Butler,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts (R.).  Committee 
onthe  Judiciary : B.  F.  But- 
ler, J.M.  Wilson  (Ind.,R.), 
L.  P.POlaud(Vt.,R.), Lyman 
Tremain  (N  Y.,  R.),  W.  P. 
Frye  (Maine,  R.),  John 
Cessna  (Pa.,  R.),  Alexander 
White(Ala..  R.),  J.  D.  Ward 
(111.,  R.),  C.  A.  Eldredge 
(Wis.,D.),  C.  N.  Potter  (N. 
Y.,  D.),  and  W.  E.  Fink 
(Onio,  D./.  1 

43 

2 

Feb.  8,1875 

Senate  Report 
624. 

To  accompany  Senate  bill 
1201.  Favorable. 

43 

t 

2 

Feb.  17, 1875 

House  Report 
125. 

To  accompany  House  bill 
4470.  Favorable. 

172  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op-- 
posing  postal  telegraphy— Continued. 

EEPOETS  AND  OTHER  DOCUMENTS  PRINTED— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Class. 

Author. 

Subject.  1 

45 

3 

Feb.  20, 1879 

Senate  Report 
805. 

John  H.  Mitchell,  of  Oregon 
(R.).  Commitlee  on  Rail- 
roads : J.  H.  Mitchell,  H.  L. 
Dawes  (Mass.,  R.),  S.  W. 
Dorsey.  H.  M.  Teller  (Colo., 
R.),  Alvin  Saunders  (Nebr., 
R.),  William  Win  do  m 
(Minn.,  R.),  Stanley  Mat- 
thews (Ohio,  R ),  M.  W. 
Ransom  (N.  C.,  D.),  W.  H. 
Barnum  (Conn.,  D.),  L.  Q. 
C.  Lamar  (Miss.,  D.),  and  D. 
H.  Arrasti  ong  (Mo.,  D.) 

To  accompany  amend- 
ment to  House  bill  6471 
advising  a more  thor- 1 
ough  investigation. 

46 

3 

Jan.  27, 1881 

House  Report 
137. 

H.  D.  Money,  of  Mississippi 
(D  ).*  Committee  on  the 
Post-Office  and  Post-Roads : 
H.  D.  Money,  A.  A.  Clark 
(N.J.,D.),  Philip  Cook  (G-a., 
D.).  J.  H.  Evins  (S.C.,D.), 
J.  W.  Singleton  (III.,  D.),  C. 
M.  Shelly  (Ala.,D.),  G.  W. 
Jones  (Texas,  D.),  J.  H. 
Ketcham  (N.  Y.,R.),  C.  H. 
Joyce  (Vt.,  R.),  J.  W.  Stone 
(Mich.,  R.),  H.  H.  Bingham 
(Pa  , R.),  and  T.  H.  Brents 
(Wash.,  R). 

In  reply  to  a resolution  of 
inquiry.  Favorable. 

1 

1 

1 

47 

2 

Mar.  3,1883 

House  Report 
2004. 

H.  H.  Bingham.  Committee 
on  the  Post-Office  and  Post- 
Roads  : H.  H.  Bingham,  J. 
Af  Anderson  (Kans.,  R.), 
Joseph  Jorgensen  (Va.,  R.), 
E.  S.  Lacey  (Mich.,  R.),  S.  J. 
Peelle  (Ind.,  R.),  S.  S.  Far- 
well  (Iowa,  R.),  H.  L.  Morey 
(Ohio.  R.),  W.  M.  Springer 
(lll.,D.),H.D.  Money,  J.H. 
Evins,  R.  F.  Armfield(N.  C., 
D.),  and  J.  T.  Caine  (Utah, 
People’s). 

To  accompany  House  bill 
7542.  Favorable.  i 

48 

1 

Jan.  17, 1884 

Senate  Report 
577,  Part  2. 

Committee  o n Post-Offices 
and  Post-Roads  : N.  P.  Hill 
(Colo.,  R.),  Philetus  Sawyer 
(Wis.,  R.),  William  Mahone 
(Va.,  Readjuster),  T.  W. 
Palmer(Mich.,R.),J.  F.Wil- 
son  (Iowa.,  R.),  S.  B.  Maxey 
(Tex.,  D.),  Eli  Saulsbury, 
J.  B.  (iroorne  (Md.,D.),and 
H.  E.  Jackson  (Tenn.,  R). 

Testimony,  statements,  - 
etc.,  taken  by  the  Com- 
mittee on  Post-Offices 
and  Post-Roads  in  rela- 
tion to  the  postal  tele-; 
graph.  1 

48 

- 1 

Mar.  4, 1884 

House  Ex. 
Doc.  107 

H.  M.  Teller,  Secretary  of  the 
Interior.  , 

John  H.  Rogers,  of  Arkansas 
tD.).  Committee  on  thePost- 
Cffiice and  Post-Roads:  H.D. 
Money,  S.  Reese  (Ga.,  D.), 
T.  B.  Ward  (Ind.,  D.).  John 
Cosgrove  (Mo.,  D.),  J.  M. 
Riggs  ail.,  D.),  J.  H.  Rog- 
ers. J.  M.  Taylor  (Tenn  ,D.), 
J.  H.  Jones  (Tex.,  D.),  D.  R. 
Paige  (Ohio,D.),  H.  H.  Bing- 
ham, (j.  R.  Skinner  (N.  Y. , 
R. ).  J D.  White  (Ky.,R.), 
J.  B.  Wakefield  (Minn.,  R.) , 
J.  W.  McCormick  (Ohio,  R.), 
J.  T.  Caine,  and  S.  J.  Peelle. 

Letter  on  telegraph  lines' 
of  subsidized  railroads. < 

48 

1 

Apr.  30, 1884 

• 

House  Report, 
1436. 

To  accompany  House  bill, 
6864.  Favorable. 

1 

"l 

48 

1 

May  27, 1884 

Sen  ate  Report, 
577. 

Nathaniel  P.  Hill,  of  Colorado 
(R.).  Committee  on  Post-Of- 
tices  and  Post-Roads  : N.  P. 
Hill,  Philetus  Sawyer,  AVill- 
iam  Mahone,  T.  W.  Palmer, 
j J.  F.  Wilson,  S.  B.  Maxey, 
Eli  Saulsbury,  J.B.  Groome, 

1 and  H.  E Jackson. 

To  accompany  Senate  bill  j 
j 2022.  Favorable.  . j 

' 1 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


173 

iBills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  spe'^ches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing postal  telegraphy — Continued. 


REPORTS  AND  OTHER  DOCUMENTS  PRINTED— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Class. 

Author. 

Subject. 

50 

1 

Jan.  23, 1888 

Senate  Mis. 
Doc.  39. 

Norvin  Green,  president 
Western  Union  Telegraph 
Company. 

Memorial  against  the 
passage  of  the  bill  for 
the  establishment  of  a 
Government  system  of 
postal  telegraph. 

To  accompany  S e n a to 
bills  534,614,  and  2222. 
Adverse. 

50 

1 

Mar.  5,1888 

Senate  Report, 
434. 

John  H.  Reagan,  of  Texas 
(D.).  Committee  on  Post- 
Office,  and  Post-Roads: 
Philetus  Sawyer,  Jonathan 
Chace  (R.  L,  R.  ),  T.  M. 
Bowen  (Colo.,  R.),  J.  H. 
Mitchell  (Oregon,  R.),  M.  S. 
Quay  (Pa.,  R,),  Eli  Sauls- 
bury,  A.H.  Colquitt  (Ga.D.), 
and  E.  K.  Wilson  (Md.,), 
and  also  J.  H.  Reagan. 

50 

1 

Mar.  8,1888 

House  Report, 
955. 

Isidor  Rayner,  of  Maryland 
(D.).  Committee  on  Com- 
merce : Isidor  Rnyner,  T. 
E.  Tarsney,  (Mich.,  Fusion- 
ist),  A.  R.  Anderson  (Iowa, 

R. ),M  D.  Lagan  (La.,D.),L. 

S.  Bryce  (N.  T.,  D.),  James 
Phelan  (Tenn.,  D.),  Charles 
O’Neill  (Pa.,  R.),  R W. 
Dunham  (111.,  R.),  J.  A.  An- 
derson (Kans.,  R.),  Ira  Dav- 
enpdrt  (N.  Y. , R. ),  and  T. 
H.  B.  Browne  (Va,  .R.),the 
majority.  Minority  in  the 
next  item. 

To  accompany  House  hill 
3404.  Favorable  to 
Governmental  postal 
telegraphy. 

50 

1 

Mar.  20, 1888 

House  Report, 
955,  Part  2. 

Martin  L.  Clardy,  of  Missouri 
(D.).  The  minority  of  the 
Committee  on  Commerce: 
M.  L.  Clardy,  C.  F.  Crisp 
(Ga.,  D.  ),  Thomas  Wilson 
(Minn  , D. ),  and  R.  T Davis 
(Mass.,R.). 

The  minority  view  of 
House  bill  3404. 

BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

•Author. 

Number. 

Subject  and  disposition. 

39 

1 

Jan.  30,1866 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  of 
Missouri  (R.). 

Senate  reso- 
lution. 

^'Resolved,  That  the  Committee  on 
Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  be 
instructed  to  inquire  into  the  ex- 
pediency of  authorizing  the  Post- 
Office  Department  to  construct 
and  operate  postal  telegraph- 
lines  along  the  principal  mail 
routes,  or  such  of  them  as  it  may 
be  deemed  necessary,  or  to  con- 
tract with  such  lines  as  may  be 
already  established,  if  that  shall 
be  deemed  more  advisable,  for  the 
use  and  control  of  such  lines ; 
and  in  connection  with  its  postal 
business  to  establish  offices  at  such 
points  as  may  be  determined  upon, 
open  at  all  hours  to  the  public  and 
the  press  for  the  safe  and  speedy 
transmission  of  dispatches  under 
proper  regulations  and  at  fixed 
minimum  rates,  the  committee  to 
report  by  bill  or  otherwise.” 

174 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing postal  telegraphy— Continued. 

BILLS  AND  EESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Author. 

Number. 

39 

1 

June  7, 1866 

John  Sherman,  of 

Senate  bill 

Ohio  (R.). 

357. 

39 

2 

Dec.  10,1866 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  of 

Senate  reso- 

Missouri (R.). 

lution  . 

39 

2 

Jan.  30,1867 

B.  Gratz  Brown,  of 

Senate  bill 

Missouri  (R.). 

551. 

40 

2 

May  16,1868 

E.  B.  Washburne,  of 

House  bill 

Illinois  (R.). 

1083. 

40 

2 

July  10, 1868 

Alexander  Ramsey,  of 

Senate  bill 

Minnesota  (R.). 

608. 

40 

2 

July  10,1868 

John  F.  Farnsworth, 

House  bill 

of  Illinois  (R.). 

1415. 

40 

3 

Dec.  4,1868 

Thomas  E.  Stewart, 

House  bill 

of  New  York  (R.). 

1504. 

40 

3 

Jan.'  18, 1869 

Burt  Van  Horn,  of 

House  bill 

New  York  (R.). 

1689. 

40 

3 

Jan.  28,1869 

B.  F.  Rice,  of  Arkan- 

Senate bill 

sas  (R.). 

848. 

40 

3 

Feb.  27, 1869 

Alexander  Ramsey,  of 

Senate  bill 

Minnesota  (R.). 

978. 

41 

1 

Mar.  16, 1869 

Alexander  Ramsey... 

Senate  bill 

136. 

41 

2 

Jan.  10,1870 

Senate 

41 

2 

Jan.  10, 1870 

W.  M.  Stewart,  of  Ne- 

Senate bill 

vada  (R.). 

367. 

41 

2 

Jan.  17,1870 

Thomas  Fitch,  of  Ne- 

House bill 

vada  (R.). 

834. 

Subject  and  disposition. 


“ To  aid  in  the  construction  of  tele- 
graph lines  and  to  secure  to  the 
Government  the  use  of  same  for 
postal  telegraph,  military,  and 
other  purposes.”  Approved  July 
24,  1866.  (Rev.  Stat.  § 5267.) 

Mr.  Brown  oflered  again  his  resolu-  ' 
tion  of  January  30,  1866. 

“For  construction  of  Government 
telegraph  from  Washington  ta 
New  York.”  Committee  dis- 
charged March  2,  1867. 

“For  the  construction  of  a Govern- 
ment telegraph  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Post-Office  Department 
between  New  York  and  Washing- 
ton.” (House  Mis.  Doc.  129.)  Re- 
ported adversely  February  24, 
1869.  (House  Rep.  32,  Fortieth 
Congress,  third  session.) 

“ To  incorporate  the  United  States 
Postal  Telegraph  Company,  and 
to  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system.” 

“To  form  the  United  States  Postal 
Telegraph  Company.”  Reported  ' 
adversely  February  24,  1869. 

(House  Rep.  32,  Fortieth  Congress,  : 
third  session.) 

“For  the  construction  of  lines  of 
telegraph  between  Boston,  New 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore, 
and  Washington,  under  direction 
of  the  Post-Office  Department.” 
Reported  adversely  February  24,  ' 
1869.  (House  Rep.  32,  Fortieth 
Congress,  third  session.) 

“For  the« construction  of  lines  of  • 
telegraph  between  Boston,  New  ; 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  ; 
and  Washington,  under  direction 
of  the  Post-Office  Department.” 
Substitute  for  House  bill  1504. 
Reported  adversely  February  24, 
1869.  (House  Rept.  32,  Fortieth  ' 
Congress,  Third  session. ) 

“For  the  construction  of  lines  of 
telegraph  between  Boston,  New  ' 
York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,, 
and  Washington,  under  direction  4 
of  the  Post-Office  Department.”  % 

“ To  establish  a postal  teleijraph  i 
system  in  connection  with  the 
Post-Office  Department.” 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph  - 
system,  and  to  incorporate  the  I 
United  States  Postal  Telegraph  ’ 
Company.”  ^ 

“ Resolutions  of  the  National  Typo-  i 
graphical  Union,  adopted  at"  Al-  : 
bany,  N.  Y.,  June  7, 1869,  in  favor 
of  a postal  telegraph.  (Senate  I 
Mis.  Doc.  13.)  4 

“To  abolish  the  franking  privilege  * 
and  to  establish  a United  States  - 
postal  telegraph  system.”  Com-  > 
mittee  discharged,  July  15, 1870.  v 

“To  abolish  the  franking  privilege  ^ 
and  to  establish  the  postal  tele-  J 
graph.”  } 


I 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  175^ 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op-^ 
\ ' posing  postal  telegraphy — Continued. 


BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED— Continued. 


Con- 

Ses- 

Date. 

Author. 

Number. 

greas 

sion. 

41 

2 

Jan.  20,1870 

Alexander  Ramsey... 

Senate  bill 
422. 

41 

2 

Jan.  24,1870 

F.  W.  Palmer,  of  Iowa 

House  bill 

(R.). 

973. 

41 

2 

Jan.  24,1870 

C.  C.  Washburn,  of 

House  bill 

Wisconsin  (R,). 

949. 

41 

2 

Feb.  8, 1870 

Senate 

41 

2 

Apr.  11, 1870 

May  2,  1870 

June  24, 1870 

Senate. 

41 

2 

Hotise 

41 

2 

Alexander  Ramsey  . . . 

Senate  bill 

1083. 

41 

2 

June  25, 1870 

F.  W.  Palmer 

House  bill 

2329. 

41 

2 

July  5,1870 

C.  C.  Washburn 

House  bill 

2365. 

41 

2 

July  5,1870 

F.  W.  Palmer 

House  bill 

2366. 

41 

3 

Jan,  23,1871 

House  bill 

2834. 

42 

1 

Mar,  16, 1871 

Alexander  Ramsey  . . . 

Senate  bill 

237. 

42 

2 

Dec,  7, 1871 

S.  C.  Pomeroy,  of  Kan- 

Senate bill 

% 

sas  (R,). 

341. 

42 

2 

Mar.  11, 1872 

F.  W.  Palmer 

House  bill 

1903. 

42 

3 

Dec.  19,1872 

do 

House  bill 

3261. 

Subject  and  disposition. 


“To  establish  and  incorporate  the 
United  States  Postal  Telegraph 
Company.”  Reported  with  amend* 
ment  January  31,  1870.  (Senate 
Rep.  18.)  Passed  over  Decem- 
ber 12, 1870. 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system  and  to  incorporate  the 
United  States  Postal  Telegraph 
Company.” 

“ To  establish  postal  telegraph  lines 
in  the  United  States.” 

Resolutions  of  the  legislature  of  Ala- 
bama in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph 
system.  (Senate  Mis.  Doc.  45.) 

Resolutions  of  the  legisiature  of 
Massachusetts  in  favor  of  a postal 
telegraph  system.  (House  Mis. 
Doc.  124.) 

Resolution  of  the  legislature  of  Ne- 
braska in  favor  of  a postal  tele- 
graph. (House  Mis.  Doc.  133.) 

‘ ‘ To  establish  a Transatlantic  Postal 
Telegraphic  Service  by  an  Ameri- 
can cable.”  Reported  with  amend- 
ment July  2, 1870. 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system  and  to  incorporate  the 
United  States  Postal  Telegraph 
Company.” 

“To  establish  postal  telegraph  lines 
in  the  United  States.”  Reported 
July  5,  1870,  and  recommitted. 
(House  Rep.  114  ) 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system  and  to  incorporate  the 
United  States  Postal  Telegraph 
Company.”  Reported  July  5, 1870, 
and  recommitted.  (House  Rep. 
115). 

“To  reduce  the  rates  of  correspond- 
ence by  telegraph  and  to  connect 
the  telegraph  with  the  postal 
service.” 

“To  reduce  the  rates  of  correspond- 
ence by  telegraph  and  to  connect 
the  telegraph  with  the  postal  serv- 
ice.” 

“To  reduce  the  rates  of  correspond- 
ence by  telegraph  and  to  connect 
the  telegraph  with  the  postal  serv- 
ice.” Reported  with  amendment 
January  22,  1872.  (Senate  Rep. 
20.)  Considered  and  recommitted 
April  17,  1872,  Reported  with 
amendment  April  18, 1872,  Con- 
sidered (see  speeches)  May  16, 
1872.  Passed  over  December  11, 
1872.  Recommitted  December  16, 
1872.  Reported  with  amendment 
December  19, 1872  (Senate  Rep. 
242,  Forty-second  Congress,  Third 
Session.)  Passed  over  January 
22, 1873. 

“ To  connect  the  telegraph  with  the 
postal  service  and  to  reduce  the 
rates  of  corre.spondence  by  tele- 
graph.” 

“ To  connect  the  telegraph  with  the 
postal  service  and  to  reduce  the 
rates  of  corresnondence  by  tele- 
graph.” (House  Rep.  6.)  Recom- 
mitted to  Committee  on  Appro- 
priations. 


176 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACU.ITIES. 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing postal  telegraphy — Continued. 


BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Author. 

Number. 

42 

3 

Jan.  20, 1873 

W.  M.  Stewart,  of  Ne- 

Senate 

vada  (R). 

42 

3 

Feb.  18, 1873 

Senate 

42 

3 

Mar.  1,1873 

43 

1 

Dec.  9, 1873 

Alexander  Ramsey  . . . 

Senate  bill 

123. 

43 

1 

Dec.  18, 1873 

H.  L.  Dawes,  of  Mas- 

House  bill 

• 

sachusetts  (R.). 

806. 

43 

1 

Apr.  2, 1874 

Alexander  Ramsey  . . . 

Senate  bill 

651. 

43 

2 

Jan.  25, 1875 

B.  F.  Butler,  of  Mas- 

House bill 

sachusetts  (R.). 

4470. 

43 

2 

Jan.  27, 1875 

S.  W.  Dorsej',  of  Ar- 

Senate  bill 

kansas  (R.). 

1201. 

43 

2 

Feb.  6,1875 

J.  C.  Parker,  of  Mis- 

House bill 

souri  (R.). 

4575. 

45 

2 

Jan.  25, 1878 

T.  F.  Tipton,  of  Illi- 

House  

nois  (R.). 

46 

2 

May  3, 1880 

J.  E.  Ellis,  of  Louisi- 

House  bill 

iana  (D.). 

6043. 

46 

3 

Dec.  4,1880 

J.  S.  Morrill,  of  Ver- 

Senate  

mont  (R.). 

I 

1 

Subject  and  disposition. 


Submitted  the  following  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  the  Committee 
on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  be 
instructed  to  inquire  into  aud  re- 
port to  the  Senate  as  soon  as  prac- 
ticable upon  the  cost  of  construc- 
tion and  present  market  value 
of  existing  telegraph  lines  now  in 
successful  operation  within  the 
United  States;  and  also  the  char- 
acter of  the  franchises  and  special 
privileges  connected  with  such 
telegraphs.” 

Resolution  ot‘  the  legislature  of  Ne- 
braska in  favor  of  a postal-tele- 
. giaph  system.  (Senate  Mis.  Doc. 
79.) 

Resolution  of  the  legislature  of  Ne- 
vada in  favor  of  a postal-telegraph 
system.  (Senate  Mis.  Doc.  98.) 

“To  provide  for  the  transmission  of 
correspondence  by  telegraph.” 
Committee  discharged  April  2, 
1874. 

“ To  provide  for  the  transmission  of 
correspondence  by  telegraph.” 

“ To  provide  for  the  transmission  of 
correspondence  by  telegraph.” 
(Senate  Rep.  242.) 

“ To  establish  telegraphic  lines  in 
the  several  States  and  Territories 
as  post-roads,  and  to  regulate  the 
transmission  of  commercial  aud 
other  intelligence  by  telegraph.” 
(House  Rep.  125).  Considered 
(see  speeches),  February  17, 1875. 

“To  establish  certain  telegraphic 
lines  in  the  several  States  aud 
Territories  as  post-roads,  and  to 
regulate  the  transmission  of  com- 
mercial and  other  intelligence 
by  telegraph.”  Reported  with 
amendments.  (Senate  Rep.  624.) 
Recommitted,  Feb.  12,1875.  Re- 
ported with  amendments,  Feb- 
ruary 16, 1875. 

“ For  ‘ the  transmission  of  corre- 
spondence by  telegraph.” 

Submitted  the  following  resolution  : 
"Resolved,  Thatthe  Committee  on 
the  Post-Offic^  and  Post-Roads  be 
and  are  hereby  instructed  to  ex- 
amine the  question  (of  postal 
telegraphy)  aud  report  to  this 
House  what  regulation,  if  any,  is 
necessary  to  cai  ry  out  and  enforce 
the  proA^isi  ns  of  section  5627  of 
the  Revised  Statutes  of  the  U nited 
States  ; and  also  wha  means  are  • 
necessary,  if  any  shoul  be  en- 
acted, modifying  the  law  in  rela- 
tion to  telegraphs.” 

“ To  provide  for  the  establishment  of 
a postal  telegraphic  system  for 
the  United  States.” 

Submitted  the  tollowing  resolution  : 
"Resolved,  That  the  (Committee 
on  Post-Offices  and  Post-Roads  be 
instructed  to  inquire  Avhether  or 
not  the  existing  telegraphic  lines 
largely  interfere  with  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment, and  whether  the  teleg'^aph 
service  should  not  be  placed  ex- 
clusively in  the  hands  of  the  Gen- 
eral Government.” 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  177 


Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing postal  telegraphy — Continued. 

BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED-Continued. 


Con-  Ses- 
gress.  sion. 


Date. 


Author. 


Number. 


Subject  and  disposition. 


46 


Jan.  17,1881 


N.  Ford,  of  Missouri 

(N.). 


House 


46 


Jan.  27,  1881 


W.  M.  S 
nois 


Springer, 


ofim- 


House 


46 


Jan.  28,1881 


S.  J.  Kirkwood,  of 
Iowa  (R.). 


Senate 

2115. 


46 


3 


Jan.  31,1881 


W.  M.  Springer 


House 

7096. 


46 


3 


Jan.  31,1881 


W.  M.  Springer 


House 

7097. 


47 

47 


1 Dec.  13,1881  ....do 
1 do do 


House 
227.  , 
House 


47 

47 

47 


1 

2 

2 


Jan.  16,1882 


Jan.  8, 1883 


Feb.  7, 1883 


Nicholas  Ford,  of  Mis- 
souri (N.). 

J.  A.  Anderson,  of 
Kansas  (R.). 

H.  H.  Bingham,  of 
Pennsylvania  (R.). 


House 

2990. 

House 

7199. 

House 

7542. 


bill 

bill 

bill 


bill 


bill 

bill 

bill 


Submitted  the  following  resolution  : 
“ Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of 
this  House  that  every^ interest  of 
this  country  demands' the  imme- 
diate construction  of  telegraph 
lines  by  the  Government,  and  that 
the  Committee  on  the  Post-Oliice 
and  Post-Koads  be,  and  is  hereby, 
requested  to  mature  and  report  a 
bill  at  the  earliest  moment  practi-' 
cable  providing  for  the  construc- 
tion of  such  telegraph  lines  as 
may  be  deemed  necessary  to  re- 
lieve the  commercial  and  all  other 
classes  of  our  people  from  po.ssible 
danger  of  a restrictive  monopoly 
in  an  agency  used  for  the  dissemi- 
nation of  intelligence  and  the  trans- 
mission of  correspondence.” 

Submitted  the  following  resolution  : 
"■Resolved,  That  the  Committee 
on  the  Post-Office  and  Post-Roads 
be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
expediency  of  establishing  by  law 
a telegraphic  postal  system  tinder 
the  United  States  (government, 
and  also  as  to  the  cost  of  reproduc- 
ing facilities  for  transmitting  tele- 
graphic messages  equal  to  those 
now  possessed  by  existing  corpora- 
tions, and  as  to  the  expediency  of 
operating  the  same,  with  power  to 
send  for  persons  and  papers  and 
to  report  at  any  time  by  bill  or 
otherwise.” 

“To  aid  the  United  States  Postal 
Telegraph  Company  in  the  con- 
struction and  operation  of  postal 
telegraph  lines.” 

“To  aid  the  United  States  Postal 
Telegraph  Company  in  the  con- 
struction and  operation  of  postal 
telegraph  lines.”  . 

“To  provide  for  the  appraisement 
of  the  telegraph  lines,  property, 
and  effects  of  companies  acting 
under  the  provisions  of  the  act  of 
July  24,  1866,  entitled  ‘An  act  to 
ahl  in  the  construction  of  tele- 
graph lines  and  to  secure  to  the 
Govei'^inient  the  iise  of  the  same 
for  postal,  military,  and  other  pur- 
poses,’ and  to  secure  information 
concerning  postal  telegraphs  in 
other  countries.” 

Same  title  as  that  of  House  bill  7097, 
third,  Forty-sixtb,  above. 

Submitted  a resolution  reqxiesting 
the  Postmaster-General  to  trans- 
mit to  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives all  correspondence  and  re- 
ports in  the  Department  from 
United  States  ministers  and  con- 
suls in  reference  to  the  working 
of  the  postal  telegraph  and  postal 
savings-banks  in  other  countries; 
which  was  referred  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  Post  Office  and  Post- 
Roads. 

“To  establish  postal  telegraph  lines 
in  the  United  States.” 

“To  create  the  postal  telegraph  of 
the  United  States.” 

“To  authorize  the  appointment  of 
a commission  to  examine  into  the 
telegraph  service  of  the  United 
States.”  Reported  March  3, 1883^ 
(House  Rep.  2004.) 


r I — 12 


178 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


BilU  and  resolutions,  reports  and  docunients,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op-  . 

posing  postal  telegraphij — Continued.  • ’ 


BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED— Continued.  / 

» 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Author. 

Number. 

Subject  and  disposition.  | =■ 

1 

48 

1 

Dec.  4,1883 

G.  F.  Edmunds,  of 
Vermont  (R.). 

Senate  bill 
17. 

“To  provide  for  the  establishment  ~ 
of  a pOvStal  telegraph  system.”  ’ 
April  9,1884,  substitute  reported,  lii 
(Senate  bill  2022.)  , 

“To  establish  a sy.stem  of  postal  ; 
telegraph  in  the  United  States.” 
April  9, 1884,  substitute  reported.  > 
(Senate  bill  2022.)  , 

48 

1 

do 

N.  P.  Hill,  of  Colorado 
(R.). 

Senate  bill 
227. 

48 

1 

Jan.  10,1884 

H.  L.  Dawes 

Senate  bill 
1016. 

“To  provide  for  the  transmission  * 
of  correspondence  by  telegraph.” 
April  9, 1884,  substitute  reported. 
(Senate  bill  2022.)  , ^ 

48 

1 ^ 

Jan.  29,1884 

0.  H.  Platt,  of  Con- 
necticut (Ri). 

Senate 

Submitted  resolutions  inquiring  * 
whether  the  cost  of  telegraphic  ^ 
correspondence  has  been  injuri-  % 
ously  affected  i y irregularities  in  ; 
the  Western  Union. 

48 

1 

Mar.  24. 1884 

Leopold  Morse,  of 
Alassachusetts  (D.). 

House  bill 
6130. 

“ To  provide  tor  the  transmission  of  < 
correspondence  by  telegraph.”  i 

“ To  secure  cheaper  correspondence  ; 

by  telegraph.”  " 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph  -j 
system.”  Alay  27,  Senate  Rep. 
577;  July  4,  considered  (See  ; 
speeches).  Jan.  21,  1885,  passed  ^ 
over. 

48 

1 

...do  

H.  D.  Money,  of  Mis- 
sissippi (D.).  • 

N.  P.  Hill 

House  bill 
6143. 

48 

1 

Apr.  9,1884 

Senate  bill 
2022. 

48 

1 

Apr.  30,  1884 

J.  H.  Rogers,  of  Ar- 
kansas (D.). 

House  bill 
6864. 

“ To  secure  cheaper  correspondence  \ 
by  telegraph.”  (House  Rep.  2436.)  , 
“ To  seciire  cheaper  telegraphic  cor-  > 
respondence.”  f 

“To  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  a postal  Telegraph  system." 

49 

1 

Dec.  9, 1885 

J.  K.  J ones,  of  Arkan- 
sas (D.). 

Senate  bill 
256. 

49 

1 

Dec.  10, 1885 

G.  F.  Edmunds 

Senate  bill 
337. 

49 

1 

Dec.  21, 1885 

S.  M.  Culloni,  of  Illi- 
nois (R.). 

Senate  bill 
755. 

“ To  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  a jiostal  telegraph  system.”  < 

49 

1 

do 

J.  H.  Rogers 

House  bill 
77. 

“ To  secure  cheaper  telegiaphic  cor-  ■ 
re.spondence.” 

“To  enlarge  the  postal  facilities  of/ 
the  United  States  by  the  estab-  ' 
lishment  of  a postal  telegraph.”  a 

49 

1 

do 

J.  B.  Weaver,  of  Iowa 
(N.  and  D.). 

House  bill 
588. 

49 

1 

Jan.  5, 1886 

L,  E AlcComas,  of  Ma- 
ryland (R.). 

House  bill 
1056. 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph* 
system  in  the  United  States.”  » 

“To  provide  for  the  establishment  S 
of  a postal  telegraph  system.”  h 

49 

1 

Jan.  6, 1886 

H.  H.  Bingham 

House  bill 
2032. 

49 

1 

Jan.  7, 1886 

J,  A.  Anderson 

House  bill 
3083. 

“To  create  the  postal  telegraph  of  ^ 
the  United  States.”  j| 

49 

1 

Jan.  8, 1886 

J.  F.  Wilson,  of  Iowa 

(Rj- 

Senate  bill 
946. 

“ To  establish  a postal  telegraph  sys-  S 
tern.” 

49 

1 

Jan.  8, 1886 

H.  L.  Dawes 

Senate  bill 
966. 

“ To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system.” 

49 

1 

Feb.  1, 1886 

A,  A.  Ranney,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts (R.). 

House  bill 
5162. 

Do. 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system.”  On  this  date  reported 
favorably  with  an  amendment  rec- . 
ommending  the  first  eleven  sec- 
tions ot  the  bill  reported  by  the^ 
committee  in  the  Forty-eighth* 
Congress,  Senate  bill  2022. 

49 

2 

Jan.  21,1887 

1 

J.  F.  Wilson 

Senate  bill 
337, 

50 

1 

Dec.  12,1887 

G.  F.  Edmunds 

Senate  bill 
534. 

‘ ‘ To  provide  for  the  establishment  of 
a postal  telegi^pph  system.”  Re- 
ported adversely,  March  5,  1888.' 
(Senate  Rep.  434). 

50 

1 

1 Dec.  12, 1887 

M.  C.  Butler,  of  South 
Carolina  (D.). 

1 

j 

Senate 

Submitted  the  following  resolution : 
'^Itesolved,  That  a select  commit- 
tee of  five  Senators,  to  be  ap- 
pointed bi’  the  President  of  the 
Senate,  be  directed  to  inquire  into 
the  advisability  and  practicability 
of  establishing  and  maintaining  a 
Govei’iiment  postal  telegiapll,' 
with  power  to  report  by  bill  or 
otherwise.”. 

50 

50 

1 

1 1 

Dec.  13,1887 

Jan.  4, 1688 

j S.M.Cullom 

^ J.  H.  Rogers 

Senate  bill 
614. 

House  bill 
12C0. 

“ For  the  establishment  and  opera- 
tion of  the  United  States  Postal 
Telegraph  Company.”  Reported 
adversely  Alarch  5.  1888.  (Senate 
Rep.  434.)  j 

“ To  secure  cheaper  telegraphic  cor- 
respondence.”  i 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

50 

60 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  179 

'esolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op~ 
^losing  postal  telegraphy — Continued. 

BILLS  AND  KESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED— Continued, 


Date. 


Author. 


Number. 


Subject  and  disposition. 


Jan. 


4, 


1888 


J.  B.  Weaver. 


House 

1355. 


Jan. 


Jan. 


4, 1888  J,  A.  Anderson 

4, 1888  I.  Raynor,  of  Mary- 
lanu  (D.). 


House 

1425. 

House 

1513. 


Jan. 

Jan. 

Jan. 

Jan, 


4. 1888  L.  E.  McComas 

6.1888  H.L.  Dawes... 


5. 1888  P.  Sawyei-,  of  Wiscon- 

sin (R.). 

9. 1888  J.  M.  Glover,  of  Mis- 

souri (D.), 


House 

1517. 

Senate 

1174. 

Senate 

1195. 

House 

3404. 


Jan.  16,1888 
Feb.  13,1888 

Feb.  13,1888 

Mar.  5,1888 


E.  D.  Hayden,  of  Mas 
sacbusetts  (R.). 

S.  I.  Hopkins,  of  Vir- 
ginia (K.  of  L.  and 

Henry  Smith,  of  Wis- 
consin (People’s 
Party). 

J.  H.  Reagan,  of  Texas 
(D.). 


House 

4971. 

House 

7071. 

House 

7076. 

Senate 

2222. 


May  14, 1888 


Frank  Lawler,  of  Illi- 
nois (D,). 


House 


June  25, 1888 


I.  Rayner 


House 


bill 

bill 

bill 

bill 

bill 

bill 

bill 


bill 

bill 


“To  enlarge  the  postal  facilities  of 
the  United  States  by  theestablish- 
ment  of  a postal  telegraph.’’ 

“To  create  the  postal  telegraph  of 
the  United  States.’’ 

“To  establish  an  interstate  po.stal 
telegraph  system,  and  for  the  ap- 
l)ointmeut  of  an  interstate  tele- 
graph commission.’’ 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraph 
system  in  the  United  States  ’’ 

“To  establish  a postal  telegrajth 
system.’’ 

“To  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  a postal  telegraph  system.’’ 

“To  amend  an  act  entitled  ‘An  act 
to  regulate  comnietce,’  approved 
February  4, 1887  ’’  Reported  with 
amendnientvS,  March  4,  1888. 
(House  Rep.  955.) 

“To  establi.^h  a postal  telegraph 
system.’’ 

“To  establish  postal telegrai)hs  and 
for  other  purposes.” 


bill 


“ To  provide  for  the  establishment  of 
a postal  telegraph  system.” 


bill 


“To  regulate  commerce  carried  on 
by  telegiaph.”  (Senate  Rep.  434.) 
Relerred,  March  15,  to  the  Com- 
mittee on  Interstate  Commerce. 

Submitted  the  following  res<du(ion: 
“ Whereas  petitions  bearing  the 
signatures  of  more  than  two  mill- 
ions of  eitizensof  thelHiited  States 
re(iuest  Congress  to  pass  a bill  and 
provide  for  the  estaplishment  of  a 
postaltelegraph  system  ; thcrelore 
be  it  liesolved,  Tliat  the  Commit- 
t«‘e  on  Rules  be,  and  are  her<  by,  in- 
structed to  set  apart  a day  for  the 
consideration  of  House  bill  3404, 
reported  by  the  Committee  on 
Commerce.” 

Submitted  the  following  resolution: 
‘ ‘ Whereas  the  Committee  on  Com- 
merce has  reiiorted  to  this  House  a 
bill  providing  for  the  creation,  con- 
struction, and  maintenance  o^  a 
Government  telegraph ; and  where- 
as petitions  have  been  pre.sented 
to  Congress  at  this  session  signed 
by  a million  and  a half  of  citizens 
praying  for  the  passage  of  said 
measure;  and  whereas  the  Com- 
mittee i n the  Post -Office  and  Post- 
Roads  have  announced  their  in- 
tention to  raise  a point  of  order  in 
this  Housein  reference  to  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Committee,  on  Com- 
merce upon  said  bill  so  re])orted  ; 
and  win  reas  the  Commiitce  on 
Commerce  are  prepared  to  sustain 
their  juiisdiction,  and  it  is  a mat- 
t(‘r  of  great  importance  that  the 
matter  vshould  be  consiilen  d ai  the 


present  SI  ssion  and  not  be  im]n  ded 
and  delayed  by  technical  objec- 
tions, now,  be  it  Resolved  In  view 
of  the  large  public  interests  in- 
volved, that  Monday,  the  2d  day 
of  July  next,  be  set  apart  for  the 
consideration  of  the  (piestion  of 
jurisdiction  of  the  Committee  on 
Commerce  over  said  bill  and  said 
report,  and  that  each  side  be  al- 
lowed one  hour  and  a half  for  the 
discusvsion  ot  the  same.” 


180  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  j 

Bills  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op~  ] 
posing  postal  telegraphy — Continued.  | 

BILLS  AND  RESOLUTIONS  INTRODUCED-Continued 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

Date. 

Author. 

Number. 

1 

Subject  and  disposition. 

51 

1 

Dec.  18,1889 

J.  A.  Anderson 

House  bill 
328. 

“To  create  the  postal  telegraph  ot 
the  United  States.” 

51 

1 

Dec.  18,1889 

E.  A.  Morse,  of  Massa- 
chusetts (R.). 

House  bill 
442. 

‘ ‘ To  provide  for  a postal  telegraphic 
system.” 

“To  establish  a postal  telegraphic 
system  in  the  United  States.” 

51 

1 

Dec.  18, 1889 

L.  E.  McComas 

House  bill 
1000. 

51 

1 

Dec.  20,1889 

S.  M.  Cullom 

Senate  bill 
1557. 

“To  provide  for  limited  postal  tele- 
graph service.” 

“ To  proAude  for  limited  postal  tele- 
graph service.” 

. 51 

1 

Dec.  20, 1889 

H.  H.  Bingham 

House  bill 
3319. 

51 

• 

1 

Jan.  6, 1890 

H.  L.  Dawes 

Senate 

j Sxibmitted  the  following  resolution  : 
liesolced,  That  the  Postmaster- 
General  be  directed  to  furnish  the 
Senate  with  such  information  as  is 
in  possession  of  the  Department 
upon  the  probable  cost  of  connect- 
ing the  free  delivery  post-offices  of 
the  country  with  the  Western 
Union  or  some  other  telegraph 
company,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
Department  upon  the  feasibility 
and  desirability  and  cost  of  making 
such  connection ; also  such  infor- 
mation as  is  in  possession  of  the  De- 
partment, and  the  conclusion  of 
the  Department  thereon,  upon  the 
probable  cost  of  the  brection  by 
the  Government  of  an  independent 
telegrapji  line  connecting  such  of- 
fices between  the  cities  of  St.  Louis, 
Chicago,  Philadelphia,  and  New 
York.  (Congressional  Record,  p. 
328.) 

51 

1 

Feb.  18,1890 

W.  H.  Wade,  of  Mis- 
souri (R.). 

House  bill 
7167. 

‘ ‘ To  establish  a postal  telegraph,  and 
for  other  purposes.” 

51 

1 

Mar.  19, 1890 

Abner  Taylor,  of  Ill- 
inois (R.). 

House  bill 
7846. 

“To  provide  for  the  establishment 
of  Government  telegraphs.” 

SPEECHES  MADE  IN  CONGRESS. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

1 

Date. 

42 

2 

Dec.  5, 1871.. 

Discussion  in  the  House  of  a resolution  submitted  by  Henry  L.  Dawes,  of  ' 
Massachusetts  (R.),  to  refer  so  much  of  the  President’s  message  as  re-  i 
lates  to  postal  telegraphy  to  a special  committee. 

Favorable  to  resolution:'  H.  L.  Dawes,  F,  W.  Palmer  (Iowa,  R.),  -Jas.  A. 
Garfield  (Ohio,  R ). 

Op])08ed  to  resolution  : J.  F.  Farnsworth  (111.,  R.),  S.  J.  Randall  (Pa..D.), 

W.  E.  Niblack  (Ind.,  D.),  J.  B.  Beck  (Ky.,  D.). 

(Globe,  2, 42,  pp.  16-21.) 

42 

Dec.  7, 1871.. 

Remarks  in  the  Senate  on  Senate  bill  341,  “To  reduce  the  rates  of  corre- 
spondence by  telegraph,  and  to  connect  the  telegraph  with  the  postal 
service.” 

Favorable  to  the  bill : Alexander  Ramsey  (Minn.,  R.),  Hannibal  Hamlin  ' 
(Me.,  R.),  Charles  Sumner  (Mass.,  R.),  Philetus  Sawyer  (Wis.,  R.),  S.  C.  x 
Pomeroy  (Kans.,  R.).  /• 

Opposed  to  the  bill : J.  W.  Nye  (Nev.,  R.),  Roscoe  Conkling  (N.  Y.,  R.), 

J.  W.  Patterson  (N.  H.,  R.).  i 

Favorable  to  cheap  telegraphy,  but  criticising  some  features  of  thisbill : 

F.  T.  Frelinghuysen  (N.  J.,  R.),‘ John  Scott  (Pa.,  R.). 

(Globe,  2,  42,  pp.  3554-3562.) 

43 

2 

Feb.  17,1875. 

Remarks  in  the  Hoxise  on  House  bill  4470,  “ To  establish  telegraphic  lines 
in  the  several  States  and  Territories  as  post  roads,  and  to  regulate  the 
transmission  of  commercial  and  other  intelligence  by  telegraph.” 
Favorable  to  the  bill : Benj.  F.  Butler  (Mass.,  R.),  Charles  Albright  (Pa., 
R.). 

Opposed  to  the  bill:  C.  W.  Willard  (Vt.,  R.),  J.  A.  Garfield  (Ohio,  R.), 

C.  L.  Merriam  (N.  Y,,  R.),jC.  N.  PotteCj  (N.  Y.,  D.),  G.  F.  Hoar  (Mass.,  R.) 

E.  H.  Roberts  (N.  Y.,  R.),  W.  E.  Fink  (Ohio,  D.),  J.  D.  Ward  (111.,  R.) 
(Record,  2,  43,  pp.  1419-1429.). 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES.  181 


BiUs  and  resolutions,  reports  and  documents,  and  speeches  in  Congress,  supporting  or  op- 
posing 2)ostal  telegraphy — Continued.  < . 

SPEECHES  MADE  IN  CONGRESS— Continued. 


Con- 

gress. 

Ses- 

sion. 

1 

Date. 

^ 47 

1 

2 

Jan.  19,1883 
Jan.  20, 1883 

Remarks  in  the  Senate  on  the  post-office  appropriation  bill,  in  favor  of  a 
Government  system  of  postal  telegraphy,  by  0.  H.  Platt  (Conn.,  K.), 
John  Sherman  (Ohio,  R.),  G.  F.  Edmunds  (Vt.,  R.). 

(Record  2,  47,  pp.  1334, 1375  and  1378.) 

48 

1 

Jan.  14, 1884 

1 

i 

An  elaborate  speech  in  the  Senate  in  faA^or  of  Senate  bill  227,  “ To  establish 
a system  of  postal  telegraph  in  the  United  States.”  Nathaniel  P.  Hill 
(CoIo.,R.). 

(Record  l,48,pp.  374-381.) 

48 

1 

i 

July  4,1884 

Remarks  in  the  Senate  on  Senate  report  577,  in  favor  of  the  postal  telegraph 
by  N.  P.  Hill  (Colo.,  R.),  S.  D.  Maxey  (Texas,  D,). 

(Record  1,  48,  pp.  G039-C041. ) ^ 

Appendix  I. 

OPINIONS  OP  PRESIDENTS. 

[Ulysses  S.  Grant,  December  4,  1871.] 

The  suggestions  of  tlie  Postmaster-General  for  improvements  in  the  Department 
presided  over  by  him  are  earnestly  recommended  to  your  special  attention.  Espe- 
eially  do  I recommend  favorable  consideration  of  the  plan  for  uniting  the  telegraphic 
system  of  the  United  States  with  the  postal  system.  It  is  believed  that  by  such  a 
course  the  cost  of  telegraphing  could  be  much  reduced  and  the  service  as  well,  if  not 
better,  rendered.  It  would  secure  the  further  advantage  of  extending  the  telegraph 
through  portions  of  the  country  where  private  enterprise  will  not  construct  it.  Com- 
merce, trade,  and,  above  all,  the  efforts  to  bring  a people  widely  separated  into  a 
community  of  interest,  are  always  benefited  by  a rapid  intercommuuication.  Edu- 
cation, the  ground-work  of  republican  institutions,  is  encouraged  by  increasing  the 
facilities  to  gather  speedy  news  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  The  desire  to  reap  the 
benefits  of  such  improvements  will  stimulate  education.  1 refer  you  to  the  report  of 
the  Postmaster-General  for  full  details  of  the  operations  of  last  year  and  for  com- 
parative statements  of  results  with  former  years. 

[Ulysses  S.  Grant,  December  2,  1872.] 

I wonld  recommend  also  .the  appointment  of  a committee  or  commission  to  take 
into  consideration  the  best  method  (equitable  to  private  corporations  which  have  in- 
vested their  time  and  capital  in  the  establishment  of  telegraph  lines)  of  acquiring  the 
title  to  all  telegraph  lines  now  in  operation,  and  to  connect  this  service  with  the 
postal  service  of  the  nation.  It  is  not  probable  that  this  subject  could  receive  the 
proper  consideration  during  the  limits  of  a short  session  of  Congress,  but  it  might  be 
initiated,  so  that  future  action  may  be  fair  to  the  Government  and  to  private  parties 
concerned. 


[Ulysses  S.  Grant,  December  1,  1873.] 

Your  attention  is  also  called  to  a consideration  of  the  question  of  postal  telegraphs 
and  the  arguments  adduced  in  support  thereof,  in  the  hope  that  you  may  take  such 
action  in  connection  therewith  as  in  your  judgment  will  most  contribute  to  the  best 
interests  of  the  country. 


182 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Chester  A.  Arthur,  December  4,  1882.] 

As  matters  which  may  fairly  claim  particular  attention,  I refer  you  to  his  (the 
Postmaster-Geueral’s)  observations  iu  reference  to  the  advisability 'of  changing  the 
present  basis  for  fixing  salaries  and  allowances,  of  extending  the  money-order  system, 
and  of  enlarging  the  functions  of  the  postal  establishment  so  .as  to  put  under  its  con- 
trol the  telegraph  system  of  the  country,  though  from  this  last  and  most  important 
recommendation  I must  withhold  my  concurrence. 

[Chester  A Arthur,  December  4,  1883.] 

The  Postmaster-General  devotes  much  of  his  report  to  the  consideration,  iu  its 
various  aspects,  of  the  relations  of  the  Government  to  the  telegraph.  Such  retiectious 
as  I have  been  able  to  give  to  the  subject  since  my  last  annual  messagehas  not  led  me  to 
change  the  view  which  I there  expressed,  in  dissenting  from  the  recommendation  of 
the  then  Postmaster-General,  that  the  Government  assume  the  same  control  over  the 
telegraph  which  it  has  always  exercised  over  the  mail.  Admitting  that  its  author- 
ity in  the  premises  is  as  ample  as  has  ever  been  claimed  for  it,  it  would  not,  in  my 
judgment,  be  a wise  use  of  that  authority  to  purchase  or  assume  the  control  of  ex- 
isting telegraph  lines,  or  to  construct  others  with  a view  to*  entering  into  general 
competition  with  private  enterprise.  The  objections  which  may  be  justly  urged 
against  either  of  those  projects,  and  indeed  against  any  system  which  would  require 
an  enormous  increase  in  the  civil  service  list,  do  not,  however,  apply  to  some  of 
the  plans  which  have  lately  provoked  public  comment  and  discussion.  It  has  been 
claimed,  for  example,  that  Congress  might  wisely  authorize  the  Postmaster-General 
to  contract  with  some  private  persons  or  corporation  for  the  transmission  of  messages, 
or  of  a certain  class  of  messages,  at  specified  rates  and  under  Government  supervis- 
ion. Various  such  schemes  of  the  same  general  nature,  but  widely  ditferiug  in  their 
special  characteristics,  have  been  suggested  in  the  public  prints^  and  the  arguments 
by  which  they  have  been  supported  and  opposed  have  doubtless  attracted  your  at- 
tention. It  is  likely  that  the  whole  subject  will  be  considered  by  yon  at  the  present 
session.  In  the  nature  of  things  it  involves  so  many  questions  of  detail  that  your 
deliberations  would  probably  be  aided  slightly,  if  at  all,  by  any  particular  suggestions 
which  I might  now  submit.  I avow  my  belief,  however,  that  the  Government 
would  bo  authorized  [by  law  to  exercise  some  sort  of  supervision  over  interstate 
telgraphio  communication,  and  I express  the  hope  for  attaining  that  end  some 
measure  may  be  devised  which  will  receive  your  approbation. 


Appendix  K. 

NEWSPAPER  OPINIONS  COLLECTED  DURING  AND  AFTER  THE  TELE- 
GRAPH STRIKE  OF  1883. 

* 

[New  York  Herald,  July  21,  1883.] 

WAGES  AND  WATER. 

The  telegraph  strike  goes  on,  and  so  far  without  unlawful  disturbance.  Both 
sides,  the  companies  and  the  strikers,  express  themselves  satisfied  with  the  result  and 
determined  to  hold  out.  That  is  the  usual  way.  Very  soon  the  contestants  will,  it  is 
to  be  hoped,  come  together  to  discuss  their  differences  and  submit  them  to  arbitra- 
tion, or  in  some  other  way  bring  about  an  amicable  settlement.  For  the  ])re>ent  the 
strikers  have  public  sympathy  with  them  ; they  need  to  be  careful  iu  all  their  con- 
duct and  language  iu  order  to  retain  it.  The  public  does  not  comprehend  the  de- 
tails of  their  demands,  but  it  sees  that  some  at  least  of  these  are  reasonable;  and 
we  believe  the  general  feeling  just,  that  the  Western  Union  Company  ought,  as  a 
powerful  corporation,  by  kindly  and  considerate  treatment  of  their  workingmen’s 
statement  of  grievances,  to  have  opened  the  door  to  a friendly  arbitration.  No  harm 
can  ever  come  from  such  a moderate  and  conciliatory  course  on  the  part  of  corpora- 
tions which  are  great  employers  of  labor. 

The  Tribune  thinks  that  “ no  course  was  left  open  to  the  telegraph  companies  but 
to  refuse  to  accede  to  extravagant  demands.  * No  doubt  some  of  the  conces- 

sions asked  by  the  men,  such  as  extra  pay  for  Sunday  work,  would  have  been  granted 
by  the  telegraph  companies  if  properly  laid  before  them.  But  as  a whole  the  demand 
of  the  operators  was  unreasonable,  and  was  especially  objectionable  in  the  way  that 


. POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


183 


it  was  presented.”  It  seems  to  us  that  if  the  demands  were  just,  the  “ way  they  were 
presented  ” need  not  have  prevented  at  least  an  attempt  by  the  Western  Union  at  a 
friendly  discussion  of  them.  It  is  not  necessary  that  workmen  shall  get  on  their 
knees  when  they  present  a list  of  what  they  believe  to  be  grievances  to  a corporation 
which  employes  them.  If  the  Telegraph  Brotherhood  spoke  hastily,  which  we  do  not 
think  to  be  the  case,  they -gave  their  employers  an  opportunity,  by  moderate  and 
friendly  treatment,  either  to  convince  and  win  over  the  reasonable  members  of  the 
Brotherhood,  or,  failing  in  that,  to  put  them  clearly  in  the  wrong  before  the  public. 

The  Evening  Post  goes  further  than  the  Tribune,  and  thinks  telegraph  operators 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  strike  at  all.  LaTws  ongljt  to  be  passed,  it  seems,  to  forbid 
them  to  do  so  ; and  if  they  do  not  like  such  laws  other  employments  are  open  to  them. 
Well,  we  suspect  it  will  be  a long  time  before  such  laws  are  adopted  in  the  United 
States.  Before  that  is  done  the  interesting  question  will  be  fully  discussed  whether 
corporations  may  water  and  water  and  water  their  stock,  without  limit,  excej>t  the 
green  of  those  who  manipulate  them,  and  then,  in  order  to  secure  dividends  on  such 
M^atered  stock,  cut  down  the  wages  of  their  servants.  The  Triuune  says  that  to  give 
its  operators  what  they  ask  ‘‘would  cost  the  Western  Union  Comx)auy  alone  a million 
and  a half  dollars  annually.”  We  do  not  know  how  that  may  be ; possibly  it  is  so. 
But  when  a prominent  journal  jn-oposes  laws  to  forbid  the  servants  of  telegraph  and 
railroad  companies  to  “strike,”  and  when  another  prominent  journal  thinks  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  servants  of  a great  corporation  presented  their  grievances  in  this 
case  was  “specially  objectionable,”  it  is  timely  to  call  attention  to  the  financial  his- 
tory of  such  a corporation. 

Because  the  question  is  thus  raised  whether,  if  the  capital  of  the  Western  Union 
Company  re[)resented  only  the  fair  value  of  its  property  and  franchises,  it  could  not, 
at  present  rates  of  telegraphing,  earn  fair  and  even  largo  dividends  on  such  capital, 
even  though  it  acceded  to  all  the  requirements  of  its  servants. 

The  present  capital  of  the  Western  Union  Couipany  is  eighty  millions.  How  was 
it  raised  to  that  prodigious  figure  ? By  building  telegraph  lines  or  acquiring  other 
property  ? No  ; for  it  owns  but  a part  of  the  lines — and  not  the  larg:er  part,  we  have 
understood — which  it  works.  It  holds  a great  part  under  lease  from  the  owners,  rail- 
road companies  and  others,  and  it  owns  comparatively  little  real  estate. 

How,  then,  came  about  these  eighty  millions,  on  which  a dividend  is  regularly 
'declared?  Last,  year  an  ingenious  })amphlet  was  issued  to  demonstrate  the  extraor- 
nary  value  of  Western  Union  stock  as  an  investment  for  country  gentlemen.  In  this 
the  prosperity  of  the  company  was  set  forth  at  length,  and  there  we  find  the  follow- 
ing passage : 

“The  authorized  capital  of  the  company  then  was  |r)0U,000,  of  which  only  about 
three-fourths  had  been  issued.  On  August  19,  1858,  the  first  scrip  dividend  was  de- 
clared, being  33  per  cent,  on  $369,700,  the  amount  of  outstanding  stock.  On  Sep- 
tember 22  of  the  same  year,  after  the  amouht  of  the  authorized  capital  had  been  in- 
creased, a scrip  dividend  of  414.40  percent,  on  the  capital  stock  of  $485, 700  was  issued. 
Three  more  scrip  dividends  were  issued  previous  to  the  purchase  of  other  lines  by  is- 
suing stock.  They  were  as  follows  ; July  16,  1862,  ‘27.26  per  cent,  on  the  capital  stock 
outstanding  of  $2,355,000;  March  16,  1863,  100  per  cent,  on  the  capital  stock  out- 
standing of  $2,979,300  ; and  December  23,  1863,  33|^  per  cent,  on  the  capital  ofii!5,962,- 
600,  increasing  the  capital  stock  to  $7,950,700.  About  January,  1864,  an  arrangement 
was  made  for  the  i^urchase  of  the  Pacific  Telegraph  Company,  a corporation  chartered 
in  the  State  of  Nebraska  and  aut  horized  to  buy,  build,  and  operate  a telegraph  line 
from  some  point  within  a Territory  or  State  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  San  Fran- 
cisco. Its  capital  was  $1,000,000.  The  purchase  was  effected  by  an  exchange  of  the 
Western  Union  stock  issued  for  that  purpose  for  the  stock  of  the  Pacific  Telegraph 
Company,  the  amount  being  $1,277,210.” 

Here  we  read  of  one  “scrip  dividend”  after  the  other — 33  })er  cent.,  414  per  cent., 
27  per  cent.,  100  per  cent.,  33^  per  cent. ; and  then  we  read  of  the  purchase  of  other 
companies  by  issue  of  Western  Union  stock. 

A writer  who  last  December  criticised  the  statements  of  this  Western  Union 
pamphlet  in  a letter  to  the  Herald  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  was  never  noticed  by  the 
company,  remarked  on  this  : 

“It  is  nowhere  said  that  the  Pacific  Telegraph  Company  owned  any  wires  or  had 
any  line  actually  built,  though  they  received  over  $1, ‘250, 000  for  their  charter  and 
supposed  property.  That  in  the  purchase  of  the  United  States  Telegraph  stock  the 
$7,216,300  j>aid  for  it  was,  according  to  good  authority,  fully  five  times  its  true  value. 
The  capital  of  the  American  Telegraph  when  it  was  absorbed  was  almost  as  much  in- 
flated as  that  of  the  Western  Union,  and  arnounted  to  $3,833,100  ; yet  $11,833,100,  or 
a bonus  of  $8,000,000  in  Western  Union  stock,  was  issued  in  exchange  for  its  proj)erty. 
In  these  ways  the  stock  was  watered  to  $41,000,000.  In  January,  1881,  the  pamphlet 
shows  this  prodigious  ‘ water’  was  again  watered,  and  the  capital  of  Western  Union 
was  increased  from  $41,000,000  to  $80,000,000,  by  the  payment  of  $15,000,000  in  stock 
for  the  property  and  franchises  of  tlie  American  Union  Telegraph  Company,  not  worth 


184 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


then  more  tlian  $3,000,000.  At  the  same  time  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Telegraph  Com- 
pany was  absorbed  by  Western  Union  at  the  expense  of  $8,400,000  more  of  stock  for 
property  also  worth  about  $3,000,000,  and  then  a scrip  divl  iend  was  issued  to  the 
stockholders  of  Western  Union  on  top  of  all  this  of  over  $15,500,000  more.” 

It  is  a very  general  and  freely  expressed  belief  among  telegraph  experts  that  the 
whole  Western  Union  plant  could  be  duplicated  to-day  for  $20,000,000  or  at  most 
$25,000,000.  To  put  it  at  $40,000,000  seems  to  every  expert  we  have  heard  speak  on 
the  subject— which  is  one  very  frequently  discussed— laughably  extravagant.  There 
would  remain  even  in  that  case  forty  millions  of  water,”  on  which  a 5 per  cent, 
dividend  is  paid.  The  journals  which  thifik  laws  should  be  passed  to  forbid  telegraph 
operators  from  striking  would  do  well  to  consider  whether  laws  should  not  first  be 
passed  to  forbid  great  corporations  from  watering  their  stock. 

Strikes  of  working  men  and  women  are  disagreeable  events,  but  they  a’  e. often  the 
only  means  these  have  to  make  their  grievances  known  to  the  public  or  to  get  them 
remedied  at  the  hands  of  their  employers.  So  long  as  strikers  conduct  themselves  in 
a lawful  manner,  without  violence  and  without  trying  by  intimidation  to  prevent 
others  from  taking  the  places  they  have  vacated,  they  are  within  their  rights  and 
pretty  certain  of  the  sympathy  of  the  general  public,  especially  where,  as  in  this  case, 
they  api^eal  against  a corporation  which  pays  dividends  on  a heavily  watered  capital. 

We  do  not  think  it  wise  in  such  corporations,  by  over-haughty  and  supercilious  con- 
duct towards  their  servants,  to  hasten  the  raising  of  the  issue  between  wages  and 
Avater,  which  is  sure  to  come  up  some  da3\  Our  advice  to  the  managers  of  the  Western 
Union  Company  is  to  come  to  terms  with  their  striking  servants  as  soon  as  possible. 

[]yew  York  Herald,  July  26, 1883.] 

GOVERNMENT  TELEGRAPHS. 

One  of  the  numerous  rumors  circulating  on  the  street  relates  that  Mr.  Jay  Gould, 
who  is  believed  to  hold  a considerable  number  of  millions  of  Western  Union  stock  and 
water,  has  been  for  some  time  anxious  to  get  rid  of  it,  and  hopes  by  embarrassing 
the  public  through  a telegraph  stoppage  to  create  a demand  that  the  Government  shall 
buy  out  the  Western  Union  Company  and  itself  monopolize  the  telegraph. 

We  do  not  believe  this  report.  Mr.  Gould  is  an  astute  man  ; he  may  be  ever  so  anx- 
ious to  unload  his  telegraph  sto'ck,  but  he  is  too  shrewd  to  believe  that  he  can  unload 
it  on  the  Government.  It  is  true  there  has  been  for  some  time  past  a growing  belief 
that  the  Government  might  usefully  take  part  in  the  telegraph  business,  and  at  the 
last  session  of  Congress  a resolution  was  reported  and,  unless  we  mistake,  adopted, 
authorizing  an  inquiry  into  the  actual  cost  of  laying  wires  and  completing  a telegraph 
“ plant.”  But  Mr.  Gould  does  not  delude  himself  with  the  thought  that  such  an  in- 
quiry would  lead  to  the  purchase  b}^  Congress  of  the  Western  Union  Company.  He 
knows  that  his  company  owns  but  a part  of  its  wires;  that  it  has  in  fact,  represent- 
ing its  eighty  millions  of  stock  in  part,  a great  lot  of  leases  of  other  people’s  wires, 
and  that  in  other- ways  it  is  not  a property  which  would  bear  that  close  preliminary 
examination  which  even  the  Government  makes  before  it  buys. 

Nor  will  the  public, -even  under  the  irritation  Avhich  the  Western  Union’s  needless 
quarrel  with  its  operatives  is  causing,  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Government 
ought  to  monopolize  the  telegraxth  ; because  the  one  lesson  of  the  present  derangement 
is  that  SO  important  and  vital  an  interest  can  not  be  safely  trusted  in  any  single  hand, 
not  even  in  that  of  the  Government.  EAmrybody  now  sees  that  if  the  Western  Union 
stock-waterers  had  not  shrewdly  contrived  to  destroy  or  absorb  all  their  rivals,  and 
thus  made  themselves  substantially  a telegraph  monopoly,  the  present  trouble  and 
loss  could  not  have  been  put  upon  the  public.  If  the  rival  companies  consolidated 
Avith  Western  Union  were  now  in  existence  the  Western  Union  managers  could  not 
have  ox)pressed  the  i>ublic,  whatever  they  might  haA'e  attempted  with  their  Avorkmen, 
because  the  xiublic  would  have  had  recourse  to  the  other  companies,  which  were 
equally  capable  of  serving  it.  ' 

This  consideration  leads  directly  to  the  effectiA  e means  by  Avhich  the  Government 
can  })roteot  the  juiblic  against  telegraph  monoi)oly.  Congress  may,  if  it  sees  fit,  au- 
thorize the  construction  of  a conqdete  net-work  of  postal  telegraph  lines,  to  be  used 
in  connection  with  the  letter  mail  and  as  part  of  the  x‘ostal  system  of  the  country. 
Such  a GoA^ernment  line  could  be  j^roperly  used  for  ex^ieditiug  x)rivate  correspondence. 
Letters  mailed  Avould  be  sent  for  two  cents,  as  the  neAV  law  iirovides.  Letters  tele- 
graphed Avould  pay  a heaAuer  charge;  they  Avould  be  telegraphed  to  the  otfice  of  des- 
tination, and  there  defiAmred  by  carriers  in  the  ordinary  course  of  mail  delivery. 
Thus,  for  a moderate  extra  charge,  the  time  noAV  required  in  transmission  by  rail 
Avould  bo  saved. 

Such  an  arrangement  would  be  a great  public  couA'enience,  but  it  would  not  create 
a monopoly  nor  ])revent  the  jirofitable  prosecution  of  iirivate  telegraph  enterprise. 
A large  and  rapidly  increasing  mass  of  business  correspondence  requires  instant  dis- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


185 


J)atcli,  and  tliis  would  still  go  over  pwvate  lines ; so  would  the  news  reports  of  the  dif- 
ferent press  associations,  which  require  quick  dispatch.  There  would,  in  fact,  remain 
for  Avell-couducted  and  unwatered  private  companies  abuudaut  business  to  secure 
ithem  satisfactory  profits,  just  as  the  surface  railroads  iu  this  city  continue  profitable, 
although  they  have  now  to  compete  wfith  the  elevated  roads.  But  the  Government 
lines  would  staud  as  an  effective  i^rotectiou  for  the  people  against  the  unreasonable 
exactions  of  speculative  companies  having  for  their  chief  aim,  by  any  means,  to  secure 
a dividend  on  heavily  wat  ired  stock. 

I A Government  telegraph  line  such  as  we  are  suggesting  would,  iu  fact,  do  for  the 
jpeople  of  the  whole  country  what  the  Erie  Canal  does  iu  an  equally  important  rela- 
ition.  The  Erie  Canal  prevents  the  trunk-liue  railroads  from  combining  to  charge 
excessive  rates  of  freight.  It  does  not  prevent  the  operation  of  these  railroads,  nor 
their  profitable  operation.  The  Central,  the  Erie,  the  Pennsylvania,  the  Baltimore 
and  Ohio  and  an  increasing  number  of  other  railroads  carry  the  products  of  the  AVest 
to  the  East,  and  do  a good  business.  But  the  Erie  Canal,  which  can  carry  cheaper 
[than  they,  not  only  has  a valuable  traffic  of  its  own,  but,  what  is  of  vital  importance, 
it  protects  the  people  against  the  combination  of  railroads  to  exact  unreasonable 
rates. 

This  is  the  true  office  of  a Government  telegraph  line,  if  we  ever  have  one.  It  will 
jhe  a useful  and  very  convenient  adjunct  to  the  mails,  but  it  should  not  and  need  not 
drive  out  private  telegraph  com])anies.  It  will  enable  a letter  written,  say,  in  Cin- 
'cinnati  to  be  delivere(t  at  its  New  York  address  as  quickly  as  it  would  be  delivered  at 
a Cincinnati  address  if  mailed  there  for  city  delivery.  That  is  a convenience  for  which 
a great  number  of  people  wmuld  pay  a moderate  extra  charge.  But  for  stock  ^orders 
land  a great  mass  of  other  business  correspondence,  and  for  news  reports,  the  lines  of 
private  companies  would  still  be  used,  at  a somewhat  higher  charge  for  quicker  dis- 
patch. 

We  are  surprised  that  an^'  one  should  think  it  desirable  or  practicable  iu  this  coun- 
try for  the  Government  to  assume  the  monopoly  of  the  telegraph.  But  we  confess  we 
lare  still  more  surprised  that  such  astute  men  as  Mr.  Jay  Gould,  Mr.  A.  B.  Cornell,  and 
jthe  other  managers  of  Western  Union  d-id  not  foresee  that  whenever  they  made  the 
Ipnblic  feel  the  iron  hoof  of  their  monopoly  upon  its  neck,  thaf  could  only  result  iu  a 
igeueral  determination  of  the  jieople  to  protect  themselves  against  such  oppression, 
not  by  buying  the  monopolists  out,  but  by  setting  up  an  independent  Government 
line. 


' [New  York  Herald,  July  30, 188:5.]  , 

WANTED — A I’OSTAL  TELEGRAPH. 

The  strike  of  the  Western  Union  Company  against  the  public  has  had  one  good 
(effect.  It  has  forced  the  attention  of  the  people  to  the  expediency  of  a Government 
( or  postal  telegraph.  The  question  is  getting  discussed  by  thoughtful  journals  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  and  the  discussion  is  likely  to  continue.  We  print  elsewhere  a 
few  extracts  from  many  at  hand,  to  show  the  general  drift  of  ])uhlic  opinion. 

Several  important  points  seem  aheady  fixed  iu  the  public  mind  : 

First.  It  is  generally  admitted  that  a monopoly  of  the  telegraph  by  the  Govern- 
ment would  be  as  inexpedient  as  one  by  a private  company,  such  as  the  Western 
Union  stock- waterers  have  been  for  years  engaged  iu  establishing. 

Second.  It  is  everywhere  held  that  the  Government  ought  not  to  think  of  buying 
ithe  Western  Union  out,  and  for  the  reason  that  it  can  build  a more  complete  system 
of  lines  for  a small  fraction  of  the  Western  Union’s  nominal  capital.  On  this  head 
the  cautions  and  accurate  Journal  of  Commerce  says: 

“ Its  nominal  capital  is  180,000,000,  while  all  of  its  present  property  could  he  re- 
Xffaced  iu  better  working  order  at  a cost  not  to  exceed  ^15,000,000  at  the  outside,  and 
I probably  at  not  over  .^10,000,000  or  $12,000,000.  It  has  issued  large  blocks  of  stocks, 
partly  to  buy  up  opposing  lines  and  partly  by  way  of  watering  its  own  shares.  It  has 
never  paid  much  regard  to  the  public  accommodation.  Its  rates  have  been  far  too 
high,  and  its  treatment  of  its  customers  is  arbitrary  and  insolent  to  the  highest  de- 
gree. It  has  fought  off  or  purchased,  as  far  as  it  could,  all  competition,  and  it  has 
refused  every  reasonable  concession  to  the  demands  of  the  press  and  the  general  pub- 
lic.” 

The  Chicago  Tribune  points  out  that  the  British  Government  wffiich  bought  out 
English  lines  paid  much  more  than  they  were  worth.  It  adds: 

“The  demand  for  postal  telf^graphy  has  been  immensely  quickened  by  the  occur- 
rence of  the  present  strike.  But  in  insisting  that  the  idea  of  the  post-office  be  so 
I widened  as  to  include  electric  letters  the  people  of  this  country,  taking  counsel  of 
their  own  good  sense,  as  also  of  their  experience,  will  hold  to  two  points  nnwaver- 
lingly.  These  are : 

“1.  No  purchase  of  existing  lines  which  are  bloated  with  watered  stock. 


186  POSTAL  TiiLEOPAPH  FACILITIES. 

‘‘2.  Genuine  Government  civil  service  to  run  the  telegraph  free  of  all  office  grab- 
bing.’’ 

Third.  It  is  generally  seen  that  the  Government,  wntli  a moderate  expenditure,  can 
construct  lines  which  will  cover  the  cOuntr}’^  more  completely  than  Western  Uoion 
has  ever  done,  and  that  the  postmasters  at  smal^post-offices  can  learn  the  art  of  teleg- 
raphy and  thus  unite  their  present  duties  with  those  of  telegraph  operators,  greatly 
to  the  public  convenience. 

Fourth.  It  is  seen,  also,  that  a Government  telegraph  will  not  supersede  or  drive 
out  i)rivate  companies,  but  will,  by  a wholesome  competition,  compel  these  to  serve 
the  public  at  fair  rates  and  punctually. 

The  New  Haven  Palladium  recalls  the  speech  of  Senator  Edmunds  at  the  last  ses- 
sion in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph.  We  hope  this  eminent  Senator  will  take  up  the 
subject  as  soon  as  Congress  reassembles.  He  will  find,  unless  we  are  much  mistaken, 
very  general  support  from  both  parties,  and  a full  discussion  of  the  question  will,  we 
believe,  bring  the  next  Congress  to  the  determination  to  establish  at  once  a general 
postal-telegraph  system.  The  Government,  as  Ihe  Palladium  properly  says,  will  not 
need  to  expend  money  for  right  of  way,  as  it  has  the  right  to  run  wires  over  all 
posf-rontes,  and  that  is  everywhere. 

Hitherto  a good  deal  of  opposition  to  the  Government  undertaking  telegraph  work 
has  arisen  from  the  fear  that  in  some  way  Congress  would  be  induced  to  follow  the 
British  example  and  buy  out  existing  lines.  But  it  is  now  clear  that  the  country  would 
not  for  a moment  tolerate  any  such  scheme^as  this.  No  one  desires  the  Government  to 
monopolize  the  telegraph  business.  In  that  it  is  seen  there  would  be  many  dangers 
and  inconveniences.  But  the  idea  of  a postal  telegia[di  used  as  an  adjunct  to  the  mail 
service  gains  favor  everywhere  because  it  is  not  open  to  the  just  objections  of  the 
other  plan.  The  true  use  of  a postal  telegraph  will  be,  as  we  pointed  out  the  other  day, 
to  effect  a speedier  letter  delivery.  Dispatches  or  letters  sent  by  postal  telegraph  will 
be  put  into  the  general  mail  delivery  at  the  point  of  destination  ; and  thus,  for  a tri- 
fling additional  cost,  a letter- writer  will  save,  in  point  of  time,  the  whole  distance 
between  the  x>hxce  where  he  writes  and  the  place  where  his  letter  is  to  be  delivered. 
A letfer  for  New  York,  written  at  Cincinnati,  Chicago,  New  Orleans,  or  San  Francisco 
would  reach  New  York  the  same  day  and  be  there  delivered  in  the  ordinal’}*  course  of 
the  letter-carrier’s  work. 

For  that  convenience  the  public  will  pay  what  it  costs ; and  the  Go\*ernment,  which 
does  not  water  its  stock,  will  charge  no  more  than  cost.  But  a great  and  increasing 
mass  of  business  and  press  correspondence  which  requires  immediate  delivery  will 
still  go  over  well-managed  i)rivate  lines,  of  which  under  such  a system  there  would 
probably  be  more  and  nuTre.  Everybody  who  has  considered  the  question  knows  that 
the  telegraxih  is  not  yet  used  to  one-tenth  the  extent  that  it  ought  to  be  and  would  bo 
were  it  not  that  rates  have  been  kept  unduly  high  by  the  Western  Union  stock-wa- 
terers  in  order  to  secure ‘dividends  on  their  enormously  iuflati'd  stock,  and  were  it 
not,  besides,  for  the  i)oor  and  irregular  service,  which  discourages  the  use  of  the  tele- 
graph except  when  it  is  absolutely  required.  There  is  no  reason  why  a dispatch 
taken  at  New  York  at  10  a.  m.  should  not  be  delivered  in  Cincinnati  before  2 or  3 
p.  m.  Yet  such  delays  are  frequent,  and  no  one  who  uses  the  telegraph  but  has  been 
annoyed  at  such  vexatious  loss  of  time,  and  by  the  uncertainty  as  to  how  soon  his 
dispatch  will  get  to  its  address. 

The  establishment  of  a postal  telegrajih  will  compel  private  companies  to  content 
themselves  with  reasonable  charges,  and,  what  is  of  even  greater  importance  to  the 
public,  will  force  them  to  pronqit  delivery,  because  that  will  be  necessary  to  secure 
them  business.  The  telegraph  is  still  oxien  to  great  iinjirovement  in  this  matter  of 
handling  the  business  which  comes  to  it.  But  such  imxirovement,  however  urgently 
required  by  the  public  convenience,  will  never  be  luade  without  such  conipetitian  as 
a Government  postal  telegraph  will  x)rovide. 

[New  York  Herald,  August  1, 1883.] 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  NOT  A MONOPOLY. 

We  jn'int  elsewhere  another  set  of  extracts  from  journals  in  different  x^arts  of  the 
country  which  favor  the  establishment  of  a x^ostal-telegraph  system.  The  question 
is  very  widely  discussed,  and  we  could  till  iiages  of  tin*  Herald  with  the  arguments 
made  by  journals  North,  South,  East,  and  West  which  demand  that  the  Government 
shall  undertake  the  telegraph  service  either  entirely  or,  as  the  Herald  has  suggested, 
in  x>art,  and  as  a more  exjieditious  letter-service.  Many  newsx>apers  which  oppose 
Government  lines  because  they  fear  a Government  monopoly  of  the  telegraph,  freely 
admit  that  the  question  is  one  which  ought  to  be  dispussed,  and  must  be  met,  and 
that  it  may  be  better  to  have  a Government  monopoly  than  a private  monopoly  of 
the  telegraph,  such  as  has  been  created  by  the  Western  Union  stock- \vaterers. 

The  proposition  which  rtnds  most  favor  does  not  look  to  a Government  telegraph 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


187 


monopoly  at  all.  That  is  not  necessary  and  is  not  desirable.  We  need  not  and 
should  not  follow  blindly  European  precedents.  The  British  Government  bought 
out  the  private  telegraph  companies  and  paid,  as  is  now  known,  much  more  for  their 
wires  and  otlier  property  than  these  were  worth.  That  is  a plan  which  would  suit 
the  telegraph  monopolists  here  very  well  ; but  to  that  the  public  will  not  consent. 

The  plan  favored  by  Senators  Edmunds,  Sherman,  and  Platt  looks  to  the  building 
of  an  independent  Governnmnt  line,  to  be  operated  as  an  adjunct  to  the  mail  service. 
There  isnothing  impracticable  about  that ; nor  Avould  such  a Government  line  drive 
out  . or  take  profitable  business  away  from  private  lines.  The  Government  line  would 
enable  a person  to  telegraph  a letter  instead  of  sending  itby  railroad;  the  telegraphed 
letter  would  be  delivered  in  the  ordinary  course  of  mail  delivery  ak  its  point  of  des- 
tination. This  would  be  a great  public  convenience;  but  it  would  not  supply  the 
business  and  press  demand  for  the  utmost  speed,  and  the  private  companies  would 
still  have  their  lines  full  of  business.  Only  the  competition  of  Government  lines 
would  force  them  to  reasonable  rates,  and,  what  is  even  more  urgently  required  and 
less  attainable  under  the  present  private  monopoly,  to  accurate  and  quick  transmis- 
sion and  delivery.  i 

The  Chicago  Tribune,  which  discusses  this  plan  in  an  extract  which  we  reprint 
elsewhere,  remarks  that  a Government  telegraph  will  not  extinguish  or  discourage 
private  companies  any  more  than  the  Post-Office  Department  undertaking  to  carry 
merchandise  parcels  has  extinguished  or  injured  the  express  companies.  The  cases 
are  precisely  parallel,  and  the  Chicago  Tribune’s  illustration  makes  clear  what  would 
be  the  effect  and  what  the  uses  of  a postal  telegraph. 

The  World  does  not  think  well  of  a Government  telegraph.  We  did  not  suppose  it 
would.  It  will  find  its  arguments  met  and  overthroAvn  in  the  different  extracts  from 
intluential  journals  which  we  print  in  other  columns.  When  Congress  meets  and  the 
postal  telegraph  is  urged,  there  will  be,  of  course,  the  usual  outcry  of  “ vested  inter- 
estsno  doubt  some  Senatorial  friend  of  monopoly  will,  like  the  World,  shake  the 
Constitution  in  the  face  of  Congressmen  ; but  we  agree  with  that  other  Deinocratic 
journal,  the  Star,  which  says:  “We  have  every  expectation  chat  not  many  more 
weeks  will  pass  before  the  press  all  over  the  countrj’  will  urge  the  consideration  of  a 
postal-telegrftph. bill  next  winter.  That  is  the  only  real,  reasonable,  and  permanent 
hope  of  relief  against  the  present  oppressive  and  parsimonious  monopoly  which  has 
crippled  the  business  of  the  continent  in  order  that  it  may  assert  its  power  over  the 
strikers.” 

The  telegraph  business,  as  now  conducted,  must  be  extraordinarily  profitable,  for 
it  enables  Western  Union  to  pay  large  regular  dividends  on  an  enormously  weltered 
stock.  In  the  usual  course  of  events,  in  a free  country  like  this,  great  profits  induce 
competition.  It  has  been  so  in  this  case.  A number  of  competing  telegraph  lines 
have  from  time  to  time  been  established.  What  has  become  of  them  ? They  have 
been  bought  up  and  combined  with  Western  Union.  For  years  this  process  has  been 
going  on,  with  the  unconcealed  object  of  creating  a huge  telegraph  monopoly,  wli,ich  > 
should  be  able  to  charge  the  public  what  it  pleased,  and  give  it  as  poor  service  as  it 
chose.  In  a pamphlet,  circulated  last  year  with  the  object  of  inducing  country  peo- 
ple to  invest  their  savings  in  Western  Union  stock,  this  monopolistic  purpose  was 
even  boasted  of  and  its  success  proclaimed.  To  persuade  investors  that  Western 
Union  was  a particularly  good  thing,  they  were  told  that  this  company  possessed  now 
a monopoly  of  telegraphing ; that  it  had  no  opposition  to  fear ; and  the  Western  Union 
was  boldly  likened  to  “an  army  of  occupation,”  in  these  words: 

“ In  truth,  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  may  be  more  aptly  compared 
to  an  army  of  occupation  than  almost  any  other  organization  in  the  country.  Pre- 
sided over  by  a general  of  experience  and  renown,  its  employes  are  a host  distrib- 
uted in  ranks  and  divisions,  and  in  possession  of  the  country  more  completely  than 
, could  be  otherwise  acquired,  except  by  peaceful  acquiescence  following  upon  neces- 
sity, usefulness,  and  efficient  service.  No  competing  company  could  .supplhiiit  it  or 
lessen  its  hold  upon  vast  portions  of  its  territory  so  completely  preoccupied.  To  be- 
lieve so  would  be  to  believe  that  capital  could  be  turned  into  channels  iTtterly  un- 
profitable, unsafe,  and  disastrous.  One  might  as  well  try  to  induce  water  to  run  up  a 
hill.  New  inventions  of  an  experimental  character,  such  as  automatic  systems  and 
postal-telegraph  (levices  and  the  extension  of  telephonic  facilities,  may  threaten  the 
completeness  of  the  gras})  which  the  Western  Union  Company  has  upon  the  power  of 
instantaneous  communication  in  this  country,  but  until  there  is  some  better  evidence 
of  ability  to  compete,  with  proiit,  with  the  ])erfection  of  system  attained  by  this  com- 
pany, no  fear  need  be  entertained  Imt  that  it  will  retain  iibs  capacity  to  earn  in  larger 
proportion  than  almost  any  other  enterprise  in  the  country.” 

This  was  after  Western  Union  had  gobbled  up  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  and  Ameri- 
can Union  competing  com])anie8,  and  when  the  Mutual  Union’s  turn  to  be  enveloped 
in  the  arms  of  the  great  Western  Union  cuttle-fish  was  near  at  hand. 

There  has  been,  therefore,  no  such  free  competition  as  in  the  natural  course  would 
have  come  about.  Competitors  have  been  bought  off  or  bought  up  by  men  who  had 


188 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


determiued  to  monopolize  this  vitally  important  means  of  communication,  and  who 
have,  in  fact,  succeeded.  They  did  not  care  what  it  cost  them,  for  they  were  ^oing 
to  make  the  public  paj^  the  cost  by  high  rates  and  poor  service,  and  make  their  work- 
men help  pay  the  cost  by  low  wages. 

It  is  clear  that  in  this  case  “ the  laws  of  trade  ” have  beeu  deliberately  prevented 
from  working.  It  remains  for  the  Government  to  step  in — not  to  assume  a monopoly 
itself,  but  to  provide  that  wholesome  and  proper  competition  which  alone  can  liber- 
ate the  public  from  the  grasp  of  this  Western  Union  “ army  of  occupation.” 

Il^ew  York  Herald,  August  2,  1883.] 

THE  TELEGRAni  STRIKE. 

The  Chicago  Tribune  thinks  we  misunderstood  one  of  its  articles  the  other  day  on 
the  relations  of  the  strikers  to  the  public,  We  will  not  dispute  with  our  contemporary, 
which  has  a right  to  define  its  own  meaning;  and  in  later  articles  it  has  shown  itself 
on  the  right  side — the  side  of  the  puldic. 

In  a strike  like  this  of  the  telegraph  operators  the  public  must  necessarily  suffer  a 
good  deal  of  inconvenience  ; but  that  can  not  be  helped.  It  would  be  much  better  to 
settle  all  such  disputes  by  arbitration  ; but  to  accomplish  that  employers  must  show 
a friendly  and  conciliatory  spirit  toward  their  people.  . 

Where  competition  in  business  is  free  and  open,  there,  again,  strikes  are  not  so  fre- 
quent, and  when  they  happen  the  public  is  not  inconvenienced.  The  Western  Union  , 
has  been  engaged  for  years  in  either  absorbing  or  disabling  its  competitors;  it  has 
destroyed  competition  and  established  a monopoly.  If  the  companies  it  has  absorbed  ; 
were  in  existence  to-day  the  ])ublic  would  not  be  inconvenienced  by  the  trouble  be-  ; 
tween  the  Westerii  Union  and  its  people.  ' 

The  Senate  Committee  on  Education  and  Labor  is  to  meet  here  next  Monday  to  < 
look  into  the  causes  of  the  telegraph  strike.  Its  inquiry  will  probably  give  important 
information  to  Congress  on  the  subject  of  the  necessity  for  a postal  telegraph  system  i 
as  a means  to  secure  healthful  competition  in  the  telegraph  business.  Meantime  the  ( 
strike  goes  on  ; and  we  regret  to  see  that  different  journals  continue  to  discuss  it  from  ^ 
a merely  sentimental  point  of  view — they  are  friends  and  supporters  of  the  company,  j, 
or  they  are  friends  of  the  strikers.  But  the  real  party  interested  is  the  public.  The  ; 
real  question  is  how  to  prevent  hereafter  another  telegraph  blockade.  The  workmen  ; 
have  a right  to  strike.  The  company,  even  if  it  is  a monopoly,  has  a right  to  stand  1 
out  ag;fiust  its  workmen.  Between  these  two  it  is  a trial  of  endurance  in  which  the  I 
public  has  nothing  to  do  but  to  look  on.  But  the  i)ublic  has  a right  to  ask  Congress  ; 
to  do  the  onlj"  thing* which  can  prevent  a rex)etitiou  of  its  losses,  and  that  is  to  estab-  ■ 
lish  a Government  line  in  competition  with  the  private  lines.  There  is  no  other  way,  i 
and  there  is  now  a very  peremptory  and  general  demand  for  that  way.  * 

* [Xew  York  Herald,  August  6, 1883.]  } 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY.  ‘ 

We  print  elsewhere  this  morning  another  collection  of  extracts  from  influential  | 
journals  in  different  parts  of  the-country  discussing  and  favoring  the  establishment  , 
of  a postal  telegraph  sj'stem — not  as  i Government  monopoly,  but  as  an  adjunct  to 
the  letter-mail  service,  and  by  way  of  a wholesome  and,  as  is  now  generally  seen, 
necessary  competition  with  private  lines. 

A Government  monopoly,  as  sou)e  of  these  journals  clearly  argue,  is  not  wanted  and 
is  not  desirable.  But  competition  of  some  kind  is  absolutely  required  by  the  most  ■ 
important  public  interests ; and  private  competition  with  the  Western  Union  has  been  i 
deliberately*  made  impossible  by  the  monopolists  who  control  that  concern. 

How  they  have  done  this,  by  what  persistent  and  unscrupulous  use  of  courts  and 
other  means,  <luring  a number  of  years,  is  shown  in  an  instructive  Congressional  re-  ^ 
port,  from  which  we  print  extracts  elsewhere.  This  report,  made  by  Mr.  Bingham,  ; 
of  Pennsylvania,  from  the  House  Committee  on  Post  Offices  and  Post-Roads,  at  the 
close  of  the  last  session  of  Congress,  brings  to  light  some  new  facts  concerning 
the  operations  of  the  Western  Union  in  its  deliberate  plot  to  drive  out  all  competitors  ^ 
and  monopolize  in  its  own  hands  the  telegraph  communications  of  the  country,  and  ' 
make  of  itself,  as  the  famous  Western  Union  pamphlet  boastfully  said,  an  “ army  of  ■ 
occupation.” 

In  its  remorseless  determination  to  establish  a monoimly  of  the  telegraph,  the  i 
Western  Union,  this  re])ort  relates,  began  by  preventing,  on  a tlimsy  excuse,  the  9 
passage  of  a law  by  Congress  enarteriug  an  opposition  enterprise.  The  inducement  9 
at  that  time,”  says  this  Congressional  report,  “ to  invest  a large  sum  of  money  in  the  9 
development  of  a separate  telegraph  system  was  withdrawn  by  the  failure  of  Congress* 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


189 


grant  this  act  of  national  incorporation.  Since  that  time  (1866)  the  Western  Union 
Telegraph  Company  has  practically  monopolized  the  telegraph  business  of  tho 
country.”  Then  follows,  in  this  report,  the  long  list  of  Western  Union’s  “ absorp- 
tions the  Pacific  and  Atlantic  Company,  the  Great  Western  Company,  the  Franklin 
Company,  the  Southern  and  Atlantic,  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  the  American  Union, 
and  so  on — all  swallowed  by  Western  Union. 

Next  comes,  in  the  Congressional  report,  the  story  of  Western  Union  in  the  courts, 
where  this  monopoly  “constantly  contested”  with  opposition  lines  “the  rights 
intended  to  be  granted  by  Congress  under  the  act  of  1866,  granting  the  rights  of  way 
along  the  railroad  post-routes  of  the  United  States,”  while,  when  it  had  its  own  ends 
to  subserve,  it  turned  about  and  pleaded  in  the  courts  for  the  very  rights  which,  as 
the  report  says,  it  “ theretofore  always  denied  to  other  telegraxdi  companies.”  The 
report  also  relates  the  Western  Union’s  dealings  with  patents.  But  we  refer  the  public 
to  the  document  itself,  printed  in  another  column.  '> 

It  is  x)lain  from  the  facts  there  stated  by  a committee  of  Congress  that  “ whether  a 
postal-telegraph  system  shall  be  • established  or  not,  or  whether  the  control  of  the 
telegraph  business'of  the  country  shall  be  left  in  private  hands,  subject  to  such  legii?- 
latiou  as  Congress  may  deem  advisable  to  secure  reasonable  competition  without  the 
danger  of  constant  absorption  by  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Coinjiany,  is  a ques- 
tion to  be  seriously  considered.” 

That  is  the  real  question,  and  to  it  the  country  is  making  h very  decided  answer. 

It  is  plain  that  the  Western  Union  monopolists  do  not  mean  to  tolerate  competition. 
They  have  got  the  jiublic  and  their  workmen  by  the  throat.  They  mean  to  make  a 
dividend  on  their  eighty  millions  of  stock  at  all  hazards.  A X)Oor  and  dilatory  service 
for  the  public  and  low  wages  for  their  work  people  are  necessary  to  achieve  this,  it  , 
seems.  If  the  underpaid  workmen  strike,  the  public  must  suffer  ; if  the  low  wages 
bring  only  incompetent  workmen,  again  the  public  must  suffer.  If  an  ojiposition  and 
competing  line  is  attempted,  it  must  be  harried  in  the  courts  and  finally  absorbed  if  it 
can  not  otherwise  be  destroyed.  That  is  the  system  by  which  tl,ie  monopoly  has 
made  itself,  as  its  friends  boast,  an  “ army  of  occupation.” 

If  the  Western  Union  had  not  made  tree  competition  impossible  there  would  be  no 
such  general  outcry  for  Government  postal  lines  as  now  is  heard  all  over  the  country. 
But  when  a gigantic  monopoly  deliberately  makes  free  competition  impossible  in  a 
business  so  vitally  important  to  the  whole  community  as  is  communication  by  tele- 
graph the  Government  must  step  in  to  liberate  the  citizens  from  oppression.  Fortu- 
nately it  is  not  necessary  that  the  Government  should  itself  monopolize  the  telegraph. 
Its  lines,  used  for  the  transmission  of  letters,  to  be  delivered  at  destination  as  letters 
are  now,  will  serve  as  a sufficient  protection  to  the  public,  and  will  no  more  dfive  out 
or  injure  legitimate  private  telegraph  companies  than  the  transmission  of  merchandise 
through  the  mails  has  ruined  or  injured  the  exiiress  companies. 

[Xew  Yoi;k  Herald,  August  7,  1883.] 


POSTAL-TELEGRAPH  SUGGESTIONS. 

General  Huidekoper,  postmaster  of  Philadelphia,  has  given  practical  consideration 
to  the  problem  of  such  a postal  telegraph  as  the  Herald  has  urged,  and  in  a conver- 
sation with  a Herald  correspondent,  printed  elsewhere,  makes  some  valuabe  statements 
and  suggestions  on  the  subject.  He  has  no  doubt  that  telegrams  can  be  delivered  by 
letter-carriers  in  cities  as  quickly — at  least  to  those  parts  distant  from  telegraph  or 
post-office  centers — as  the  telegraph  companies  now  send  them,  and  of  this  no  one  who 
has  experienced  the  vexations  and  dilatory  delivery  of  telegrams  at  even  short  distances 
from  the  main  offices  in  our  great  cities  will  have  any  doubt.  General  Huidekoper 
says  on  this  ]Doint : 

“ One  hundred  and  fifty-six  of  our  carriers  are  taken  from  this  office  four  times  a 
day  to  distant  parts  of  the  city  by  wagons  and  brought  back  again  immediately  after 
they  have  made  each  delivery,  so  that  they  can  reach  their  routes,  without  sutfering 
the  detention  which  they  would  if  they  w ere  transported  by  street-cars  ; and  I am 
inclined  to  think  that  telegrams  now  received  in  this  city  for  points  two  miles  from 
the  central  office  are  not  now  delivered  as  xnomptly  as  if  tliej^  were  intrusted  to  the  city 
delivery  department  of  this  office  for  carrying.  Of  course  in  the  business  center  of 
the  city  the  deli''xry  of  letters  should  be  made  every  hour ; and  if  the  delivery  of 
telegrams  w'as  also  a part  of  our  business  an  intermediate  delivery  could  readily  be 
made  of  these.  I think  every  one  who  lives  in  the  outskirts  of  Philadelphia  or  in 
the  suburbs  believes  that  telegrams  are  not  now  delivered  until  a sufficient  number 
accumulate  to  warrant  the  sending  out  of  a messenger,  and  that  the  postal  service  is 
now  almost  as  rapid  between  the  central  office  and  substations  as  the  present  tele- 
graph service.” 

As  to  country  offices  he  makes  the  following  useful  suggestion:  “ It  seems  to  me 
that  the  postal  service  should  be  extended  to  every  x)ost-office  in  the  United  States 


190 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


by  having  certain  post-ofiQce  centers  from  which  telegriims  could  he  distributed  by 
mail.  For  instance,  a telegram  sent  from  here  to  a small  post-office  15  miles  from 
Chicago  could  be  sent  to  the  Chicago  office  and  mailed  there — the  sender  being  in- 
formed  at  this  office  as  to  when  the  mails  for  the  office  of  destination  would  leave 
the  Cdncago  office  and  the  telegrams  could  be  sent  with  reference  to  the  time  om 
schedules  so  as  to  make  the  proper  connections.” 

[New  York  Herald,  August  10,  1883.] 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPH. 

We  print  elsewhere  this  morning  a fourth  series  of  extracts  from  influential  jour- 
nals in  all  parts  ot  the  country  discussing  the  various  aspects  of  the  telegraph  ques- 
tion. It  will  be  seen  that  the  demand  for  competing  lines,  to  be  established  by  the 
Government,  is  widespread  and  general.  The  Chicago  Tribune,  in  a leading  article' 
of  great  ability,  takes  up  the  different  points  of  the  question  and  holds— 

First.  That  iniblic  sentiment  will  not  tolerate  the  purchase  by  the  Government  of 
the  present  private  lines. 

Second.  That  the  Government  must  construct  its  own  lines. 

Third.  That  there  should  be  no  attempt  at  a Government  monopolv  of  the  tele- 
graph. • ^ 

fourth.  That  competition  between  Government  and  private  lines  is  possible  and  ■ 
necessary,  because  in  that  case  any  abuses  on  Government  lines  would  be  remedied  by 
the  public  using  the  private  lines. 

fifth,  lhat  the  Government  has  the  same  right  to  build  and  operate  telegraph' 
lines  as  private  individuals,  and  there  is  no  pretense  that  private  individuals  or  cor-  i 
porations  may  not  build  new  and  competing  lines.  ] 

To  these  considerations  other  journals  add  that — 

Sixth.  The  amalgamation  policy  of  the  Western  Union  has  made  healthful  compe-I 
tiUon  by  private  effort  inqiossible.  All  new  competitors  are  either  crushed  or  bono-ht 
off  or  “swallowed.”  Hence  it  is  necessary  that  the  Government  shall  come  to  the  \ 
help  of  the  public.  j 

Seventh.  That  the  use  of  the  telegraph  is  still  capable  of  very  great  extension,  and  j 
that  as  fast  mails  have  superseded  slow  mails,  so  it  is  necessary  to  make  the  teleo-raph  | 
not  only  “ the  rich  man’s  mail,”  but  the  poor  man’s  as  well.  ^ 

Eighth.  That,  as  several  experienced  postmasters  have  explained,  there  is  no  diffi-  ' 
culty  at  all  in  making  the  telegraph  an  adjunct  of  the  post-office,  and  having  post-! 
office  telegrams  delivered  by  the  letter-carriers,  or  in  small  places  simply  delivered  at  '1 
the  local  post-office.  ■■ 

Ninth.  That  the  cost  of  the  service  will  not  be  great,  and  that  it  wdll  be  iindoubt-  ^ 
edly  self-supporting.  | 

Tenth.  That  the  necessary  employment  of  skilled  operators  will  be  a help  towards 
civil  service  reform.  : 

Finally,  the  opinion  is  very  generally  expressed ‘that  the  next  Congress  ought  to,  1 
and  very  probably  will,  pass  a xiostal- telegraph  act.  •; 

[New  York  Herald,  August  14,  1883.1  ! 

GOVERNMENT  COMPETITION  NEEDED. 

We  print  elsewhere  this  moraing  another  series  of  extracts  from  journals  in  di^r- 
ent  parts  of  the  country  arguing  in  favmr  of  a Government  line  of  telegraph  to  com-, 
pete  with  private  lines.  Two  of  these  articles— one  from  the  New  York  Public  andi 
one  from  the  Chicago  Tribune — are  so  valuable,  that  we  make  extended  extracts  from' 
them.  They  discuss  the  various  phases  of  this  important  matter  with  such  ability  as' 
shows  that  these  iutluential  journals  have  made  a careful  study  of  it.  From  the  New  t 
York  Star,  also,  we  reprint  an  article  in  which  that  journal  with  conspicuous  ability; 
answers  the  objections  raised  to  Government  competing  lines  by  the  World  and  the' 
Sun. 

I here  is  no  longer  any  doubt  that  the  popular  mind  is  determined  upon  a Govern- 
ment or  postal  telegraph  system.  The  objections  to  it  in  the  press,  here  and  therej 
arc  feeble  and  for  the  most  part  doctrinaire,  resting  upon  grounds  which  could  be 
just  as  strongly  urged  against  the  Government  carrying  the  mails.  On  the  otherj 
hand,  it  is  quite  clear  that  the  longer  the  plan  of  Government  competing  lines  of; 
telegraph  is  considered  the  stronger  and  more  numerous  are  the  reasons  developed 
for  it  and  the  more  practical  and  necessary  to  the  public  convenience  and  security  it 
is  shown  to  be.  " i 

It  is  the  general  opinion  that  the  Government  ought  not  to  assume  the  exclusive 
(jOiitrol  of  the  telegraph,  because  a Government  monopoly  wmuld  be  almost  as  danger- 
ous and  objectionable  as  that  from  which  the  public  now  suffers.  Competition  is 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


191 


needed.  The  competition  of  private  effort  and  private  companies  would  be  prefer- 
able, but  that  has  been  deliberately  destroyed  by  tlie  Western  Union  Company,  which, 
as  one  of  its  friends  wrote  in  a now’  notorious  pamphlet,  holds  the  country  like  “an 
army  of  occupation. There  remains,  therefore,  no  protection  for  the  public  except 
such  as  the  Government  can  "ive  by  competing  lines. 

The  Public,  in  a very  able  discussion  of  the  problem,  declares  rightly  that  “ there 
is  safety  only  in  preserving  permanently  two  competing  systems,  either  of  w’hich  must 
depend  for  its  revenues  and  its  very  existence  upon  rendering  service  w’ith  prompt- 
ness and  fidelity.’’  And  the  Public  adds: 

“The  Government  itself  absolutely  needs  a telegraphic  system  for  its  ow’ii  protection. 
This  will  not  seem  the  language  of  exaggeration  when  it  is  considered  that  the  ordi- 
nary enforcement  of  law’s,  the  capture  of  offenders,  the  success  of  fiscal  operations,  the 
protection  of  the  country  against  domestic  insurrection  or  foreign  invasion  have  come 
to  depend  in  these  days  upon  the  instant  transmission  of  intelligence  w ith  certain  and 
absolute  secrecy.  It  may  at  any  time  come  to  pass  that  the  jnivate  interests  of  those 
controlling  a telegraph  system  shall  require  the  non  enforcement  of  the  law’,  the 
escape  of  a criminal,  the  prevention  or  delay  of  a financial  operation,  or  the  partial 
success  of  a domestic  outbreak  or  foreign  inroad.  It  is  nonsense  to  say  that  this  can 
not  happen.  If  Mr.  Gould  could  suppress  for  a few"  hours  or  days  uew’s  of  an  outbreak 
on  the  Pacific  coast,  or  of  the  departure  of  a hostile  iron-clad  from  Europe,  he  could 
make  millions  by  it.  The  Government  has  no  certainty  that  he  would  throw’  aw’ay 
millions.  It  has  no  certainty  that  its  orders  bearing  on  great  financial  operations  may 
not  be  betrayed,  and  its  aims  thwarted.” 

To  the  World’s  plea  that  {)rivate  competition  ought  to  be  the  sole  remedy  for  the 
l)resent  troubles  the  Star  pertinently  replies : “Had  the  editor  of  that  interesting 
paper  lived  long  in  the  United  States  ho  would  know  that  competition  has  had  its 
way  and  day  in  the  telegraph  business  and  has  utterly  broken  dow’ii.  The  present 
state  of  things  has  grown  directly  out  of  the  very  competition  he  clamors  for  as  a 
remedy  for  the  present  state  of  things.”  The  Indianapolis  Times  remarks: 

“Tlie  Signal  Service  of  the  Government  has  become  a necessity  in  the  preservation 
of  property  and  shipping  upon  the  rivers,  lakes,  and  seas,  and  for  the  preservation 
of  human  life,  and  its  im{)ortance  to  the  intere.st8  of  commerce  is  incalculable;  yet 
in  1870  these  interests  w’ere  all  jeopardized  and  the  Signal  Service  brought  to  a sus- 
pension by  the  refusal  of  the  telegraph  company  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by  the 
Government.  The  business  of  the  commercial  w orld  has  been  thrown  into  confusion 
during  the  past  three  weeks  by  the  strike  of  the  operators.  But  there  is  still  another 
and  greater  danger.  The  telegrai>hic  lines  of  this  country  are  practically  in  the 
hands  of  one  man,  and  that  man  a gigantic  speculator.  He  basin  his  pow’er  the  only 
means  of  instantaneous  transmission  of  new’s,  not  only  throughout  this  country,  but 
across  the  ocean.  Having  this  power,  he  can  at  any  time,  for  his  own  speculative 
purposes,  suppress  the  transmission  of  news  until  the  business  of  the  w’hole  country 
could  be  paralyzed.” 

The  Chicago  Tribune  sensibly  says : 

“ It  is  better  in  every  way  that  the  Government  should  comxiete  in  the  transmission 
of  telegraphic  correspondence  than  endeavor  to  monopolize  it.  If  the  men  in  control 
of  the  Government  should  ever  take  advantage  of  its  telegraphic  facilities  to  pay  ex- 
cessive salaries  to  its  employes  and  to  that  end  charge  the  public  exorbitant  rates,  or 
if  confidential  communications  on  business,  social,  or  political aff'airs  were  betrayed  by 
the  Government  service,  the  people  would  have  the  competing  private  lines  to  fall  back 
upon,  and  would  prefer  to  pay  the  companies  higher  rates  to  make  sure  of  inviola- 
bility. In  this  way  competition  would  be  a wholesome  and  permanent  restraint  upon 
the  Government  and  the  men  in  control  as  well  as  upon  the  private  companies.”  The 
New  York  Evening  Post  perceives  that  “ a larger  and  larger  number  of  people  are  be- 
ginning to  see  that  Government  competition  is  the  only  one  which  will  ever  prove 
effective  against  the  Western  Union,  and  the  only  remedy  for  w"hatever  inconveuionces 
arise  from  having  the  telegraphy  of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  one  corporation.  The 
Western  Union  has  found  so  little  difficulty  for  many  years  in  destroying  competition 
by  buying  out  rival  competitors  that  the  creation  of  rival  companies  for  the  express 
purpose  of  being  sold  out  to  it,  after  a period  of  fictitious  activity  and  furious  de- 
nunciation of  monopolies,  has  long  been  a favorite  device  of  tricky  financiers.  In  fact, 
the  cori)oration  is  largely  made  up  of  these  purchased  champions  of  popular  rights. 
What  we  ueeal  now  is  a Government  telegraph,  in  connection  w’ith  the  post-office,  to 
compete  with  the  commercial  corporations.” 

These  quotations  from  influential  and  thoughtful  journals  fairly  represent  the 
thought  of  the  country,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  Congress  will  act  upon 
this  thought  at  the  approaching  session.  We  regret  to  notice  that  the  Sun,  almost 
alone  among  journals  of  influence,  opposes  the  proposed  remedies  for  the  evils  of  tel- 
egra]>h  monopoly. 


192 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES, 


[Xew  York  Herald,  August  23,  1883.] 


THE  PUBLIC  VOICE  DEMANDS  A GOVERNMENT  TELEGRAPH. 


The  telegraph  strike  has  broken  cIowd,  and  the  Western  Union  chiefs  are  busy  mak-i^ 
ing  hard  and  humiliatiug  conditions  for  the  strikers  who  ask  it  for  employmeiiL  But  a 
the  demands  for  a Government  telegraph  to  compete  with  private  lines  continues,  and  ' 
the  longer  it  lasts,  the  more  numerous  and  cogent  the  reasons  which  are  urged  by" 
journals  in  all  parts  of  the  country  in  favor  of  it.  We  print  elsewhere  another  set  oU 
extracts  from  thoughtful  and  influential  journals,  North,  South,  East,  West,  on  the: 
subject.  ■ 

The  Galveston  News  and  Kansas  City  Times  show  the  futility  of  the  World’s  propo- 1 
sition  that  it  would  be  a sufficient  remedy  of  present  telegraph  abuses  if  Congress  ; 
were  to  pass  laws  forbidding- the  amalgamation  of  companies  and  the  watering  of , 
stock.  Both.these  able  journals  point  out  what  it  is  curious  the  World,  under  its  pres- ' 
ent  management,  should  have  forgotten — that  similiar  laws  passed  in  Missouri  to  pro- 
hibit the  consolidation  of  railroads  have  been  contemptuously  disregarded.  The 
Galveston  News  says : 

‘‘  The  World  must  be  very  poorly  informed,  or  it  would  know  that  the  constitutional  ^ 
provisions  or  statutory  laws  in  Missouri,  Texas,  and  other  States  against  the  cousoli-  1 
datiou  or  parallel  and  competing  railroads  have  been  practically  ineflectual.  Corpo- 1 
rations  and  syndicates  have  found  a way  to  overcome  or  circumvent  all  legal  difficul- 1 
ties,  and  to  consolidate  and  pool  to  any  extent  desired  by  interested  and  contracting  ' 
parties.” 

The  Kansas  City  Times  adds  : 

“Missouri  has  the  statute,  but  it  is  of  no  practical  utility.  It  has  been  set  at', 
naught  by  the  railway  companies  of  the  State.  Since  its  enactment  wholesale  con- ! 
solidations  of  parallel  and  competing  lines  of  railroads  have  been  effected  with  im- . 
punity.  In  one  instance  a line  competing  with  the  Missouri  Pacific,  built  with  town- 
ship subscriptions  for  the  express  purpose  of  competition,  was  bought  by  Jay  Gould, 
consolidated  and  then  destroyed.  In  another  instance  two  great  lines  traversing  the 
State  from  east  to  west  were  seized  by  the  same  hand  and  placed  under  the  same ' 
management.”  j 

It  will  strike  many  people  as  queer  that  the  World,  strenuously  opposing  a Govern- 
ment competing  telegraph,  urges  as  a sufficient  remedy  a law  which,  it  seems,  Mr. 
Gould  himself,  the  head  of  the  Western  Union  monopoly,  has  defied.  The  Mobile 
Register,  by  the  way,  remarks  ; “In  the  midst  of  the  cotton  season  a single  tick  of 
this  private  company,  instigated  by  the  money  kings  of  New  York,  might  sweep 
away  in  an  hour  the  hard  earned  means  of  business  men  all  over  the  South.”  The: 
Albany  Express  adds  : “ It  is  easy  to  conceive  of  situatiops  in  which  the  interests  of 
such  a capitalist  and  speculator  might  induce  him  to  take  advantage  of  exclusive: 
knowledge,  obtained  by  virtue  of  his  ownership  of  the  telegraph,  in  regard  to  fiscal' 
operations  of  the  Government,  or  other  wants  affecting  the  value  of  stocks.” 


[New  York  Herald,  August  30,  1883.] 


THE  POSTMASTER-GENERAL  ON  GOVERNMENT  TELEGRAPHS. 


The  Herald’s  Washington  correspondent  reports  that  Postmaster-General  Gresham 
is  making  a careful  study  of  the  telegraph  question,  and  intends  to  give  some  recom- 
mendations upon  the  subject  in  his  annunl  report.  It  is  believed  in  Washington  that 
bills  for  the  establishment  of  a Government  line  will  be  introduced  in  both  houses  as 
soon  as  Congress  meets.  Postmaster-General  Gresham  regards  the  matter  asone  which' 
ought  to  receive  attention  from  him  and  from  Congress,  because  for  the  first  time  it' 
has  become  a practical  question,  in  which  the  public  takes  a lively  and  positive  in- 
terest. 

We  trust  Mr.  Gresham’s  studies  will  lead  him  to  the  conviction,  almost  universally, 
entertained  by  the  public,  that  the  Government  ought  not  to  monopolize  the  telegraph 
service ; , that  it  ought  uot  to  repeat  the  costly  blunder  of  the  British  Government  by, 
buying  out  existing  lines,  and  that  the  Government  lines  ought  to  be  used  as  adjuncts 
to  the  postal  service. 

There  will  be  a heavy  pressure  from  speculators  to  persuade  Congress  to  buy  out  the 
present  companies.  The  Evening  Post,  which  some  weeks  ago  held  that  telegraph 
operators  ought  to  be  prevented  by  law  from  striking,  yesterday  broke  ground  with' 
an  argument  that  the  Government  ought  to  buy  out  the  Western  Union  and  other 
existing  companies  as  a matter  of  justice.  The  Post  will  presently  tell  the  people  of 
New  York  that  they  ought  either  to  shut  up  the  Erie  Canal  or  buy  out  all  the  railroads,’ 
and  that  the  elevated  railroad  companies  in  this  city  ought  to  buy  out  all  the  surface 
lines.  ' 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


193 


There  is  room  enough  for  a dozen  well  managed  telegraph  companies  in  this  country. 
The  use  of  the  telegraph  has  been  limited  and  checked  by  the  monopoly  of  the  West- 
ern Union  Company,  which  has  steadily  absorbed  its  competitors  and  thus  prevented 
that  healthful  and  necessary  competition  which  alone  brings  any  great  invention  into 
general  use.  If  a single  corporation  could  have  managed  to  keep  control  and  owner- 
ship of  all  the  steam-boats  in  the  country  for  the  last  forty  years,  steam  navigation 
would,  like  the  telegraph,  be  still  in  its  infancy.  The  Western  Union  is  said  to  have 
transmitted  30,000,000  of  messages  last  year,  and  this  in  a country  with  50,000,000  of 
people.  With  proper  competition  in  this  business  in  five  years  the  people  will  be- 
come so  accustomed  to  use  the  telegraph  that  they  will  send  300,000,000  rather  than 
30,000,000  of  messages  per  annum.  Even  that  would  be  less  than  six  messages  per 
head  of  population. 

As  for  Government  lines,  we  wonder  how  many  allies  of  corporations  will  have  the 
impudence  to  pretend  that  the  Government  has  not  the  same  right  as  private  citizens 
to  build  competing  lines.  The  telegraph  monopolists  can  not  hope  to  “absorb”  a 
Government  line,  that  is  true.  But  it  is  to  secure  the  needed  competition,  which  the 
monopolists  have  deliberately  made  impossible,  that  the  people  demand  a Govern- 
ment competing  line. 


[From  tlie  Chicago  Tribune.] 

NATIONAL  TELEGRAPHS. 

The  demand  for  postal  telegraphy  has  been  immensely  quickened  by  the  occurrence 
of  the  present  strike.  But  in  insisting  that  the  idOa  of  the  post-office  be  so  widened 
as  to  include  electric  letters  the  people  of  this  country,  taking  counsel  of  their  own 
good  sense,  as  also  of  their  experience,  will  hold  to  two  points  unwaveringly.  These 
are : 

1.  No  purchase  of  existing  lines  which  are  bloated  with  watered  stock. 

2.  Genuine  Governmeut  civil  service  to  run  the  telegraph  free  of  all  office-grabbing. 

The  English  bought  their  lines  from  the  private  companies  and  were  shockingly 

cheated.  Mr.  Scudamore,  of  the  British  post-office,  made  a careful  estimate  for  Par- 
liament, in  which  he  calculated  that  the  purchase  of  the  lines  would  cost  not  to  ex- 
ceed $20,000,000,  and  that  the  extensions  and  transfer  to  offical  hands  would  cost  not 
to  exceed  $500,000  more.  The  extensions  in  five  years  after  the  purchase  had  cost 
$12,500,000  instead  of  $500,000,  with  more  to  come,  and  the  total  expenditure  of  the 
British  Government  had  reached  the  enormous  sum  of  $50,000,000,  instead  of  the  mod- 
est sum  of  $20,500,000  they  were  assured  would  be  the  outside. 

The  Government  has  plenty  of  money — more  than  it  knows  what  to  do  with.  Let  it 
build  telegraph  lines  connecting  Washington  with  the  principal  cities  of  the  Repub- 
lic, binding  together  the  political,  commercial,  and  financial  centers  by  wires  not  at 
the  mercy  of  any  monopoly,  whether  of  labor  or  of  capital.  Let  these  be  gradually 
extended  as  the  money-order  post-offices  have  been  until  the  whole  country  enjoys  all 
the  blessings  of  the  postal  telegraph.  The  Governmeut  and  the  private  companies 
will  act  as  a beautiful  system  of  checks  on  each  other.  The  competition  of  the  Gov- 
ernmeut will  keep  down  the  private  tendency  to  extortionate  rates.  The  competition 
of  the  private  lines  will  keep  the  officers  of  the  Government  enterprising  and  alive  to 
new  methods  and  new  wants. 

The  Government  will  have  no  monopoly,  but  neither  will  a private  and  watered  cor- 
poration have  a monopoly. 


[From  the  Baltimore  American.] 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

The  strike  of  the  telegraph  operators  has  brought  into  renewed  prominence  the 
question  of  the  advisability  of  annexing  a system  of  telegraphy  to  our  ordinary  mail 
service.  It  is  true  that  an  army  of  telegraph  operators  would  be  added  to  the  Gov- 
ernment pay-rolls,  but  on  the  other  hand,  the  income  of  the  Government  from  teleg- 
raphy would  more  than  meet  that  expense.  Moreover,  the  time  required  to  learn 
to  become  a skilled  operator  involves  an  apprenticeship,  and  this  enforces  a perma- 
nence of  tenure  of  office  which  mere  political  clerkships  do  not  naturally  enjoy.  There 
would  be  no  department  of  the  Government,  except  perhaps  the  Coast  Survey,  in 
which  the  principles  of  civil  service  reform  would  more  easily  be  cariied  out.  As  to 
espionage  and  monopoly  of  information,  there  is  no  more  danger  in  telegraphy  than  in 
postal  monopoly.  The  Government  has  never  abused  the  sanctity  of  the  mails.  Why 
should  it  violate  the  privacy  of  telegrams  ? 

The  advantages  are  very  obvious.  In  the  6rst  place,  cheapness  and  uniformity 
would  be  obtained,  and  far  greater  perfection  of  distribution  of  wires.  The  Govern- 
ment, not  having  dividends  to  pay  upon  immensely  watered  stock,  could  work  very 

P T 13 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


191 

clieaply.  Its  income  from  the  great  cities  would  be  so  large  that  it  could  afford  to 
'establish  country  lines  where  they  would  not  pay.  For  example,  the  income  of  the  , 
Post-Office  from  the  mails  between  New  York  and  Philadelphia  is  enormous,  and  gives 
it  a margin  for  establishing  post-offices  in  remote  places  where  the  mails  are  carried  : 
at  a loss.  It  costs  as  much' to  send  a letter  to  Towson  as  to  San  Francisco.  Some- 
thing of  the  same  sort  might  he  done  in  telegraphy.  It  would  not  he  the  object  of 
the  Government  to  make  money  by  telegraphy,  but  only  to  make  it  pay  its  own  ex- 
penses, as  the  Post-Office  does,  and  at  the  same  make  telegraphic  communication  ' 
as  uniform  in  cost  and  as  cheap  as  the  case  will  permit.  Every  post-office  would  have 
its  telegraph,  and  perhaps  even  the  lowest  might  in  time  combine  the  functions  of  ! 
postmaster  and  telegraph  operator.  The  Government  could  build  its  own  lines  for 
less  than  one-fourth  of  the  inflated  value  of  Western  Union.  It  is  already  announced 
that  a bill  to  carry  out  this  plan  will  be  introduced  in  Congress  at  the  coming  ses-  ! 
sion,  and  it  would  be  well  for  the  people  to  think  over  it  and  make  up  their  minds  on  : 
the  subject.  ' 

[From  the  New  Haven  Palladium.]  i 

GOVERNMENT  TELEGRAPH.  , 

Whatever  may  be  the  result  of  the  telegraph  operators’  strike  it  is  safe  to  predict  ] 
that  it  will  so  sharply  call  attention  to  the  relations  of  the  telegraph  to  the  Govern- 
ment and  the  people  as  to  give  a renewed  impetus  to  the  postal  telegraph  scheme  or  ; 
to  some  other  plan  for  the  better  regulation  of  telegraph  communication.  Our  ^ 
readers  will  perhaps  recall  the  speeches  made  in  the  national  Senate  on  this  subject  ; 
at  its  last  session.  They  were  made  in  connection  with  the  debate  on  the  Post  Office 
appropriation  bill,  and  attracted,  much  attention  at  the  time.  The  first  was  made  by 
Senator  Platt,  of  this  State,  who  was  followed  by  Senators  Sherman  and  Edmunds.  ! 
The  three  Senators  took  the  same  ground,  that  the  time  had  come  for  the  Government  - 
to  seriously  consider  the  advisability  of  establishing  telegraph  lines  of  its  own.  The  ' 
general  tenor  of  these  speeches  is  indicated  by  the  following  extract  from  that  of  Sen- 
ator Edmunds  : What  the  United  States  in  regard  to  the  postal  affairs  and  the  wel-  i 
fare  of  its  people  needs  to  do  more  than  anything  else  is  to  construct  a postal- 
telegraph,  beginning  moderately  between  great  points  in  the  country  and  all  ^ 
intermediate  points,  and  then  extending  it,  just  as  we  have  the  mail  system,  as  the  ' 
needs  of  the  community  and  fair  economy  would  require,  until  every  post-office  in 
the  country  should  have,  or  be  within  immediate  reach  of  a postal  telegraph.  That 
is  what  ought  to  be  done  and  what  will  be  done  within  a very  few  years  beyond  all 
■question.”  Senator  Edmunds  gave  notice  that  he  should  at  the  first  opportunity  in 
the  next  Congress  introduce  a bill  for  a postal  telegraph,  and  the  present  strike,  with  ' 
fhe  general  inconvenience  and  derangement  of  business  resulting  from  it,  can  not  fail 
to  win  strong  support  for  it. 

One  thing  should  be  thoroughly  understood  at  the  outset,  and  that  is  that  Govern-  ‘ 
ment  control  should  not  take  the  direction  of  purchasing  the  lines  of  the  pres  mt  cor-  j 
porations,  with  their  watered  stock.  Competent  telegraph  men  say  that  the  Govern- 
ment. with  the  right  of  eminent  domain  which  it  has  under  the  power  to  establish  " 
post  routes,  could  establish  a postal  telegraph  system  for  |15, 000, 000,  which  would  be 
practically  equal  as'to  all  central  points  to  the  Western  Union  Company  with  its 
almost  $100,000,000.  It  would  not  be  necessary  for  the  Government,  in  building  its 
lines,  to  buy  the  right  of  way,  as  it  would  unquestionably  have  the  right  to  establish 
a postal  telegraph  along  any  post  route.  The  public  would  thus  be  relieved  of  the  ' 
necessity  of  paying  dividends  on  watered  stock,  and  the  operators  would  be  assured 
of  a ‘'fair  day’s  pay  for  a fair  day’s  labor”  without  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  a 
strike.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Edmunds  will  make  good  his  x)romise  to  introduce 
a postal  telegraph  bill  at  the  earliest  date  possible. 

[Fj  om  the  Council  Bluflfs  Nonpareil.] 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY.  ' ; 

The  serious  interruption  of  the  business  of  the  country,  and  the  damage  sustained 
'by  other  interests  innumerable  on  account  of  the  telegraphers’  strike  is  renewing  at- 
tention to  the  practicability  of  postal  telegraphy.  The  right  of  the  nation  to  facilitate 
the  business  of  its  citizens  by  means  of  wires  is  as  undoubted  as  is  its  right  to  do  so 
through  the  medium  of  mail  bags.  The- capital  stock  of  the  Western  Union  is' 
$100,000, 000,  and  yet  gentlemen  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  subject  have  stated 
with  precision  that  the  Government  could  inaugurate  a complete  i)Ostal  system,  nowi 
throughout,  serving  the  same  territory  now  under  the  wires  of  the  Western  Union, - 
for  $15,000,000.  The  subject,  in  view  at  least  of  the  possible  recurrence  of  just  such 
troubles  as  are  now  upon  us,  deserves,  as  it  will  most  assuredly  receive,  the  careful- 
consideration  of  press  and  public. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


195 


[From  tlie  New  Haven  Journal  and  Courier. 1 
THE  GOVERNMENT  TELEGRAPH. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  Government  shall  establish  a system  of  telegraph 
lines  throughout  the  country  is  pressing  forward  upon  public  attention.  The  manifest 
weakness  of  the  Western  Union  in  the  present  contest  is  rapidly  producing  a profound 
impression  upon  the  people.  A gigantic  monopoly  is  always  looked  upon  as  a sort  of 
public  enemy,  because  it  means  high  prices  and  arbitrary  regulations.  But  the  public 
is  fast  huding  out  that  a monopoly  controlling  one  of  the  great  interests  of  the 
conntry,  vitally  important  to  its  commerce,  involves  something  more  than  a question 
of  prices.  When  the  monopoly  becomes  disabled  its  work  stops  and  business  suffers 
without  a remedy.  Telegraphy  is  much  too  important  to  our  commercial  interests  to 
be  left  subject  to  such  vicissitudes  as  the  present  strike.  The  people  can  not  afford  to 
trust  any  corporation  with  such  power  that  it  can  stagnate  the  business  of  the  country 
whenever  it  chooses  to  quarrel  with  its  employes.  The  question  of  Government  tele- 
graph will  be  pretty  sure  to  press  itself  upon  the  attention  of  the  next  Congress. 

And  why  should  we  not  have  the  Government  telegraph  ? It  would  not  be  neces- 
sary to  condemn  and  pay  for  the  franchise  of  the  Western  Union.  The  Government 
could  establish  competing  lines  of  its  own.  The  competition  would  be  a pretty  safe 
one  so  far  as  the  Government  would  be  concerned.  The  Western  Union  pays  good 
dividends  on  enormously  watered  capital  stock.  To  enable  the  company  to  do  this 
the  people  are  made  to  pay  much  more  than  they  ought  to  for  the  transmission  of 
their  dispatches.  The  Government  can  duplicate  the  Western  Union  system  of  wires 
for,  probably,  a third  of  the  present  capital  of  that  company.  It  need  charge  for 
messages  no  more  than  the  actual  cost  of  their  transmission.  It  may  charge  enough 
to  produce  a revenue  and  still  fall  far  below  the  price  of  the  Western  Union.  In  short, 
the  Government  telegraph  will  save  the  country  the  dividends.  It  is  a scheme  in 
which  the  profits  are  pocketed  by  the  people  instead  of  a corporation. 

The  common  objection  to  this  is  that  the  business  would  not  be  as  economically 
done  by  public  as  by  private  enterprise.  What  business  is  more  economically  man- 
aged than  the  postal  service  ? It  can  safely  challenge  comparison  with  the  Western 
Union,  and  the  employes  of  the  postal  service  are  not  underpaid.  Nobody  has  been 
known  to  strike  from  it.  The  situations  are  always  full  and  plenty  of  applicants 
waiting. 

[From  tlie  Montreal  Gazette.] 

THE  TELEGRAPHERS’  STRIKE. 

Mr.  Mitchell  was  quite  right  when  he  denounced  the  absorption  of  the  Montreal 
Telegraph  Company  by  the  Western  Union,  through  the  intermediary  of  the  Great 
Northwestern,  and  the  applause  with  which  his  remarks  were  received  showed  how 
generally  his  opinions  were  concurred  in.  To  us,  who  incurred  some  odium  because 
of  the  position  taken  by  the  Gazette  on  this  question,  these  views  are  at  least  a vindi- 
cation of  onr  course.  Had  merchants  generally  taken  as  warm  an  interest  in  the 
question  then  as  they  are  forced  to  do  now  the  absorption  might  have  been  prevented, 
and  the  Canadian  system  at  any  rate  would  have  been  in  the  hands  of  gentlemen  upon 
whom  the  pressure  of  public  opinion  would  have  had  some  iudueuce.  And  Mr.  Magor 
was  quite  right  when  he  pointed  out  the  responsibilities  of  the  companies  under  their 
charters  and  the  way  in  which  those  responsibilities  are  being  ignored.  We  have  no 
doubt  that  the  solution  of  this  trouble  is  to  be  found  in  the  Government  taking  control 
of  the  telegraph  system,  and  that  the  sooner  this  is  done  the  better  will  it  be  for  the 
public  interests. 


[From  the  Chicago  Tribune.] 


The  New  York  Herald  says : 

I ‘‘  This  consideration  leads  directly  to  the  effective  means  by  which  the  Government 
I can  protect  the  public  against  telegraph  monopolies.  Congress,  may,  if  it  sees  fit, 
authorize  the  construction  of  a complete  network  of  postal  telegraph  lines,  to  be  used 
in  connection  with  the  letter  mail  and  as  part  of  the  postal  system  of  the  country. 
Such  a Government  line  could  be  properly  used  for  expediting  private  correspondence. 
Letters  mailed  would  be  sent  for  2 cents,  as  the  new  law  provides.  Letters  tele- 
graphed would  pay  a heavier  charge,  but  still  light  compared  with  Jay  Gould’s  charges. 
They  would  be  telegraphed  to  the  office  of  destination  and  there  delivered  by  carriers 
in  tlie  ordinary  course  of  mai  Idelivery.” 

This  is  a very  fair  presentation  of  the  case  as  it  is  formulated  in  the  public  mind. 
I It  starts  with  the  theory  that  the  telegraph  has  become  as  necessary  a vehicle  for  the 
transmission  of  intelligence  as  the  mails,  and  that  the  public  has  the  right  to  expect 


196 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


protection  from  the  Government  against  a suspension  of  telegraph  facilities  by  any  ! 
combination  of  private  capital  or  secret  conspiracies  of  labor.  The  surest,  most  prac-  ' 
tical  and  most  effective  way  to  secure  such  protection  to  the  people  is  for  the  Govern-  i 
ment  to  construct  telegraph  lines,  beginning  with  the  routes  most  used,  and  extending  ' 
them  as  rapidly  as  possible  to  all  the  regular  post-routes,  and  to  operate  them  at  a : 
self-sustaining  rate  upon  the  same  principle  as  the  mail  system.  The  Government 
does  not  handle  the  mails  to  make  profit.  It  is  not  obliged  to  earn  dividends  on  stock, 
and  it  would  have  no  telegraph  bonds  issued  on  which  it  would  be  required  to  pay  in- 
terest. The  Government  would  build  its  telegraph  system  with  spare  money,  surplus 
revenue,  and  it  would  only  have  to  charge  enou’gh  tolls  to  defray  operating  expenses  < 
and  repairs.  1 

It  will  be  by  no  means  a -formidable  undertaking  for  the  Government.  Probably  j 
an  expenditure  of  $25,000,000,  expended  over  half  a dozen  years,  will  provide  a tele-  1 
graph  service  as  extensive  as  that  now  covered  by  the  private  corporations,  and  of  a ’ 
much  more  durable  character,  and  one  which  need  not  charge  the  public  half  as  high  - 
tolls.  The  Government  may  proceed  without  any  reference  to  existing  telegraph  : 
companies,  which  may  continue  in  business  if  they  choose.  The  transmission  of  small 
packages  by  mail  at  cheap  rates,  assumed  by  the  Government  a few  years  ago,  did  ■ 
not  drive  the  express  companies  out  of  business,  but  merely  forced  them  to  moderate 
tbeir  charges,  and  nobody  thought  of  suggesting  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  buy  up  all  the  watered  express  stock  in  the  country.  The  addition  of  tele- 
graph facilities  to  the  Government  postal  system  stands  upon  precisely  the  same  foot- 
ing. The  Government  is  in  no  wise  committed,  and  is  under  no  possible  obligation 
to  allow  the  jobbers  and  manipulators  of  telegraph  stock  to  unload  it  on  Uncle  Sam 
at  three  or  four  times  its  actual  value. 

The  advantages  which  will  accrue  to  the  public  from  a Government  telegraph  sys- 
tem are  obvious.  There  will  be  no  watering  of  stock.  There  will  be  no  strikes  of'  , 
operators.  There  will  be  no  dividends  to  pay  on  real  or  fictitious  stock.  There  will 
be  no  blackmailing  lines,  built  to  sell  out  under  threat  of  undermining  competition.  , 
The  same  perfection  in  detail  can  be  achieved  in  telegraphy  that  has  been  reached  in  • 
the  mail  service.  The  public  will  be  better  served  at  greatly  retluced  rates,  and  there  , 
will  never  be  any  danger  of  a suspension  of  facilities  pending  a disagreement  about 
operatives'  wages.  If  Senator  Edmunds  will  take  hold  of  this  project  with  his  known 
ability  and  energy,  it  will  not  take  long  for  him  to  concentrate  a public  sentiment  j 
which  Congress  will  not  dare  to  disregard,  no  matter  how  corruptly  the  telegraph  ^ 
companies  may  act,  and  he  is  the  sort  of  man  who  wdll  not  tolerate  any  jobs  coutem-  i 
plating  the  purchase  of  watered  stock  as  a means  to  secure  the  necessary  telegraph  1 
poles,  wires,  and  instruments,  which  constitute  all  the  machinery  the  Government  \ 
needs  to  go  into  the  telegraph  business. 

\ From  tlie  W orcester  Spy.  ] * 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPH. 


Another  proposition  is  that  the  United  States,  without  interfering  wMth  the  property  ! 
or  franchises  of  the  existing  companies,  shall  establish  its  own  lines  over  such  routes  1 
as  Congress  may  direct,  and  do  a telegraphic  business  in  connection  with  the  postal  ‘ | 
service,  not  to  the  exclusion  of,  but  in  competition  with  any  private  corporations  ! 
now  in  exisrence,  or  which  might  be  established.  Such  a postal  telegraph,  with  rates  j 
fixed  so  as  to  meet  all  of  the  current  expenses,  with  a low  rate  of  interest  on  the  cost  | 
of  the  lines,  w ould  provide  a permanent  competitor  to  the  private  lines,  compelling 
them,  in  order  to  secure  a fair  proportion  of  the  business,  to  serve  the  public  at  mod- 
erate rates,  with  speed,  accuracy,  and  civility.  It  would  not  probably  prevent  them 
from  earning  a fair  profit,  for  it  is  believed  that  official  management,  wdth  its 
greater  formality,  its  subjection  to  laws  and  regulations  not  readily  changed  to  suit 
changing  conditions,  and  without  the  stimulus  of  private  interest,  can  not  adapt 
itself  so  well  to  the  poi)ular  requirements  as  that  of  a private  corporation  can. 

[From  the  Vicksburg  Herald.] 

THE  REMEDY -FOR  THE  TELEGRAPH  STRIKE. 


To  begin  the  postal  telegraph  would  cost  the  Government  little  or  nothing,  for  it 
could  issue  3 per  cent,  bonds  and  arrange  the  tolls  to  pay  the  interest.  If  the  next 
Congress  does  not  pass  a law  to  commence  the  good  w ork,  it  will  woefully  fail  in  its 
duty  to  respond  to  popular  sentiment. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


197 


[From  the  New  Haven  Palladium.] 

CHEAP  TELEGRAPHING. 

Not  the  least  of  the  advantages  which  the  postal  telegraph  has  to  commend  it  to 
popular  favor  is  the  low  rate  of  tolls.  The  telegraph  of  to  day  is,  as  Senator  Platt  ex- 
presses it,  ‘‘the  rich  man’s  mail.”  With  monopoly  crushed  out  by  the  powerful  aid 
of  the  Government  it  could  be  brought  within  the  reach  of  every  individual  in  the 
land.  In  this  connection  the  statistips  of  tolls  in  those  foreign  countries  whose  gov- 
ernments provide  telegraph  facilities  for  the  people  are  of  interest.  In  Belgium  mes- 
sages are  sent  anywhere  within  the  Kingdom  for  the  uniform  price  of  10  cents;  in 
Switzerland,  10  cents  ; in  Greece,  IS  cents ; in  France,  from  10  to  20  cents,  according 
to  the  distance;  in  Baden  and  the  Netherlands,  13  cents;  in  Wurtemberg,  15  cents; 
in  Italy,  20  cents;  in  the  North  German  Union,  12^  to  .37^  cents,  according  to  dis- 
tance; in  Austria  and  Hungary,  10  to  40  cents,  according  to  distance;  in  Norway 
and  Sweden,  28  cen^s  ; in  Australia,  25  cents.  Great  Britain  was  the  last  of  the 
European  nations  to  abandon  the  system  of  private  management  of  telegraphs  and 
unite  them  with  the  postal  service.  The.  rates  of  charges  in  that  country  previous  to 
February  5,  1870,  were:  For  a distance  not  exceeding  100  miles,  24  cents;  over  100 
but  not  exceeding  200,  36  cents ; over  ‘200  miles,  48  cents.  For  additions  of  ten 
words  or  less  than  ten  words  half  rates  were  charged.  Since  February  5,  1870,  the 
period  when  the  telegraph  lines  passed  under  the  control  of  the  post-office  depart- 
ment, the  rates  have  been  uniformly,  and  without  regard  to  the  distance,  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom,  24  cents  for  the  first  twenty  words  of  each  message,  not 
counting  the  name  or  address  of  the  sender  or  receiver,  and  this  sum  covers  the  de- 
livery of  the  message  by  special  foot  messenger  within  the  limit  of  one  mile  of  the 
terminal  telegraph  office. 


[From  tlie  "Waterbury  American.] 

GOVERNMENT  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

The  postal-telegraph  scheme,  however,  does  not  propose  to  do  away  with  the  tele- 
graph companies  as  they  now  exist  for  certain  kinds  of  business.  It  only  proposes  to 
bring  within  reach  of  all  in  their  communications  the  speed  and  convenience  which 
is  now  enjoyed  only  by  the  few. 

[From  the  Memphis  Appeal.] 

AN  UNSCRUPULOUS  MONOPOLY. 

The  telegraph  business  in  this  country  is  already  in  the  hands  of  a huge  and  un- 
scrupulous monopoly,  and  the  tendency  is  toward  further  monopoly.  Whatever 
objection  there  may  be  to  add  to  the  number  of  the  Government’s  employds,  it  is  no 
relief  from  that  difficulty  to  be  grasped  by  the  other  difficulty — corporate  monopoly.’ 

[From  the  Nashville  Banner.] 


MORE  IMPORTANT  THAN  THE  MAIL. 

Were  telegraphs  under  the  supervision  of  the  Post-Office  Departnlent,  or  a separate 
one  of  its  own,  such  troubles  as  the  present  would  never  result.  And  further,  we 
should  thus  secure  a cheaper  service  for  the  business  and  public  interests  of  the  country, 
iind  be  confident  of  a continual  decrease  in  rates,  as  has  been  in  postage.  Communica- 
tion by  wire  has  become  of  equal  if  not  superior  importance  as  that  by  mail.  An 
opportunity  is  offered  for  the  agitation  of  this  question,  and  the  papers  of  the  country 
should  take  every  advantage  of  it.  Use  the  National  Treasury  surplus  in  buying  or 
erecting  telegraph  lines  for  the  people,  to  be  controlled  and  conducted  as  a public 
service  for  the  general  good. 


[From  the  Trenton  State  Gazette.] 

POSTAL  TELEGRAPHY. 

As  to  the  creation  of  a dangerous  army  of  office-holders,  the  fear  is  chimerical.  The 
country  would  never  know,  by  any  interference  with  public  affairs,  that  such  an  army 
<3xisted.  The  people  selected  for  the  service  would  necessarily  be  experts.  They 
■could  not  be  displaced  by  wholesale  at  the  change  of  every  administration.  Besides, 


198 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  EACH  ITIES. 


i 

1 

1 

the  new  civil  service  reform  system  would  apply  to  them.  They  would  be  secure  in  ,'i 
their  places,  both  by  the  impossibility  of  filling  their  positions,  and  by  civil  service  , 
reform.  They  would,  therefore,  be  under  no  temptations  to  take  au  active  part  in 
primary  packing  and  convention  running.  .) 

[From  the  Montreal  "Witness.] 

NO  VESTED  RIGHTS  IN  CANADA.  ' , 

We  trust  that  the  Government  will  come  to  a decision  at  once  in  favor  of  the  pro-  ' 
posal,  which  they  have  had  so  long  under  consideration,  to  establish  a telegraph  . 
system  iu  connection  with  the  postal  system.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  people  will 
urge  upou  the  Government  the  immediate  necessity  of  doing  so  without  apprehen- 
sions as  to  any  obstructions  which  stand  in  the  way  of  a cheap  undertaking  of  the 
work. 

[From  tlie  New  York  Star.] 

CHEAP,  UNIFOI^M,  AND  SAFE. 

The  incorporation  of  the  telegraph  into  the  postal  service  is  required  in  order  to  ■ 
secure  a cheap,  uniform,  and  safe  method  of  telegraphic  communication.  To-day  the 
charges  on  telegraphic  messages  are  four  times  higher  than  they  should  or  need  be» 
The  Western  Union  has  doubled  its  stock  with  water,  until  the  original  money  capital  i 
has  become  as  diluted  as  the  high  attenuations  of  the  homeopathic  school.  Yet  it  ; 
pays  an  enormous  dividend  ou  this  water  by  levying  a tax  on  every  message  sent  over 
its  wires.  A telegraph  costs  comparatively  little.  It  can  be  cheaply  operated.  It 
could  carry  messages  for  a trifle.  In  three-quarters  of  the  post-ofiQces  of  the  country  • 
no  additional  attendant  would  be  required.  An  immense  impetus  would  be  given  to 
business  by  such  a reduction  of  postal  rates.  The  tariff  would  be  systematized  and  ^ 
uniform.  In  the  third  place,  the  telegraph  should  be  incorporated  into  the  postal  : 
service  in  order  to  break  down  the  despotism  of  monopolies,  and  prevent  such  a costly  i 
and  damaging  interruption  of  business  as  our  community  is  suffering  from  to  day.  ! 
Suppose  the  post-offices  were  controlled  by  a private  corporation,  with  such  men  as  I 
Gould,  and  Sage,  and  Eckert,  and  Green  at  its  head.  The  whole  correspondence  of  " 
the  country  would  be  at  the  mercy  of  their  greed.  If  they  saw  fit  to  reduce  the  wages 
of  employes  and  precipitate  a strike,  the  entire  business  of  the  country  would  stop,  t 
and  the  people  in  ten  millions  of  homes  would  be  isolated  from  their  friends.  The 
telegraph  represents  the  most  vital  part  of  the  intelligence  of  the  country.  It  carries  ^ 
the  most  important  communications.  It  is  burdened  not  only  with  news  affecting  i 
trade  and  prices,  the  fortunes  of  business  men,  but  with  messages  of  woe,  and  joy,  < 
and  grief,  and  death.  No  private  corporation  should  have  the  power  to  control  such  ^ 
an  agency  for  speculative  ends  in  a country  iu  which  the  people  are  supreme  and  the  { 
Government  is  their  agent.  ' 

[From  the  Indianapolis  Times,]  ^ 

LET  THE  GOVERNMENT  BUILD.  ^ 

It  is  said  by  some  that  the  Government  ought  not  to  come  in  competition  with  pri-  i 
vate  citizens.  A sufficient  answer  to  that  is  that  the  Government  has  the  exclusive-'  * 
right  to  carry  the  mails.  The  sqme  argument  was  used  when  it  was  proposed  to 
carry  small  packages  through  the  mails  and  to  introduce  the  money-order  system,  yet  J 
the  Government  did  not  see  fit  to  buy  out  either  the  express  companies  or  the  banks.  ? 
The  Government  could  build  new  lines  cheaper  than  to  buy  the  old  ones,  or  cheaper  j 
than  individuals,  for  it  would  not  be  required  to  purchase  the  right  of  way,  as  it  has  | 
the  right  to  use  any  post  route,  and  all  railroad  lines  are  post  routes.  The  Govern-  i 
ment  has  the  money  to  build  with,  and  it  ought  to  have  the  control.  Then  the  people  J 
and  business  interests  of  the  country  would  not  be  under  the  dictation  of  a monopoly,  i 

[From  the  St.  Paul  Pioneer  Press.]  J 

THE  PUBLIC  AND  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  objection  which  has  always  been  most  unanswerable  is  in 
a fair  way  to  disappear.  The  lion  in  the  path  has  been  the  matter  of  patronage.  The 
fear  that  the  telegraphic  service  would  be  used  to  intrench  a political  party  in  power  ; 
has  fought  more  powerfully  against  it  than  any  other  consideration.  This  argument 
loses  its  force  iu  the  presence  of  a system  of  civil-service  reform  already  in  operation.  ; 
"With  the  rigid  application  of  that  to  the  service,  and  the  repeal  of  the  four  years^  ^ 
tenure,  the  i)olitical  objection  would  have  little  force;  and  besides  the  nature  of  the  ; 
occupation,  requiring  skill  and  previous  training,  would  make  it  less  liable  to  thD, 
abuses  of  rewards  and* appointments  for  political  reasons. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


199 


[From  the  Trenton  State  Gazette.] 

The  New  York  Herald  has  taken  up  postal  telegraphy,  and  is  pushing  it  with  char- 
acteristic  energy.  There  is  little  doubt  the  country  is  about  ripe  for  this  progressive, 
step.  Postal  telegraphy  must  come. 

[From  tie  Washington  Star.] 

DUTY  OP  THE  GOVERNMENT. 

Talk  of  Government  telegraphic  service  in  connection  with  the  Post-Office  Depart- 
ment is  again  becoming  quite  common,  based  upon  the  prolonged  operators’  strike,, 
and  it  is  altogether  likely  that  the  proposition  will  gain  considerable  strength  it  the 
present  interruption  continues  much  longer.  It  is  more  than  probable,  too,  that  if 
its  business  is  to  be  liable  in  future  to  further  demoralization  from  the  same  cause, 
the  managers  of  the  telegrai)h  interests  will  themselves  seek  a way  out  of  their 
troubles  by  transferring  their  lines  to  Government  ownership  and  control.  They 
would  doubtless  be  glad  to  do  so  now  if  Government  or  any  other  customer  would 
take  their  property  at  the  fictitious  value  they  put  upon  it.  This,  however,  ought 
never  to  be  permitted,  so  far,  at  least,  as  Government  is  concerned  ; and  it  is  not  likely 
that  private  customers  could  be  found  who  would  be  willing  to  pay  so  much  for  so 
little.  Counting  watered  stock  anti  all  the  capital  of  the  Western  Union  Company- 
now  stands  at  about  $80,000,000.  Of  this  sum,  however,  not  more  than  $10,000,000, 
if  so  much,  was  actually  paid  up  in  cash.  The  balance  represents  water,  or  issues  of 
shares  for  which  no  equivalent  in  money  or  anything  of  value  was  ever  rendered,  and 
it  is  certain  that  a plant  capable  of  performing  as  good  service  as  the  country  now 
enjoys  at  the  hands  of  the  monopoly  can  be  furnished  for  the  sum  last  named.  When, 
therefore,  the  time  for  negotiation  between  the  Government  and  the  company  conies, 
if  it  ever  does  come,  that  amount  ought  to  be  adhered  to  as  the  maximum  basis  of 
purchase.  If  more  than  that  sum  is  insisted  upon,  the  Government  should  go  ahead, 
and  build  its  own  lines,  leaving  the  present  inflated  concern  to  take  care  of  itself. 

[From  the  Paterson  Press.] 

AN  INDEPENDENT  GOVERNMENT  LINE. 

The  idea  of  a “ Government  monopoly,”  however,  is  a hateful  one  to  most  people^, 
and  few  are  found  so  bold  as  to  advocate  the  purchase  by  the  Goyernment  of  all  ex- 
isting wire  lines  and  the  establishmeut  of  a monopoly  under  the  control  of  the  pub- 
lic; for  of  all  absolute  masters  in  matters  of  transportation  or  communication  there 
is  no  despot  that  the  people  would  fear  as  much  as  itself.  But  the  proposition  that 
finds  favor  with  such  influential  journals  as  the  New  York  Herald  and  the  Chicago- 
Tribune  does  not  look  to  a Government  telegraph  monopoly  at  all.  It  does  not  look 
to  following  the  example  of  the  British  Government  which  bought  out  the  private 
telegraph  companies  and  paid  much  more  for  their  wires  and  other  property  than  they 
were  worth.  Any  suggestion  that  our  Government  should  buj^  that  bloated  monstros- 
ity, the  Western  Uniou,  with  its  dropsical  weight  of  water,  would  be  met  with  a 
storm  of  indignation  fiom  everybody  except  the  monopolists  themselves.  The  plan 
favored  by  the  New  York  Herald  and"  the  Chicago  Tribune,  and  by  Seuators  Edmunds,. 
Sherman,  and  Platt  looks  to  the  building  of  an  independent  Government  line,  to  be 
operated  as  an  adjunct  to  the  mail  service.  The  Herald  says: 

“ There  is  nothing  impracticable  about  that;  nor  would  such  a Government  line 
drive  out  or  take  profitable  business  away  from  private  lines  The  Government  line^ 
would  enable  a person  to  telegraph  a letter  instead  of  sending  it  by  railroad.” 

The  Chicago  Tribune  remarks  that  a Government  teleuraph  will  not  extinguish  or- 
discourage  private  companies  any  more  (han  the  Post-Office  Department  undertaking 
to  carry  merchandise  parcels  has  extinguished  or  injured  the  express  companies. 

[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post.] 

“the  poor  man’s  mail.” 

While  it  might  not  be  possible  to  obtain  so  cheap  telegraph  service  as  the  peoi)le  of 
Great  Britain  enjoy,  even  if  our  Government  should  take  control  of  the  wires,  it  is 
certain  that  the  time  predicted  by  Senator  Platt  when  the  telegraph  shall  be  the  only 
the  rich  man’s  mail,  but  the  poor  man’s  mail  as  well,  would  be  brought  closer  to  us. 
by  governmental  control. 


200 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[From  the  Boston  Globe.] 

COMPETITION  AS  AGAINST  MONOPOLY. 

There  are  many  arguments  in  favor  of  supplementing  the  mail  service  with  a sys- 
tem of  postal -telegraph  lines,  while  there  are  few  valid  objections  to  a system  prop- 
erly established.  It  is  not  necessary  for  the  Government  to  purchase  or  assume  con- 
trol of  existing  lines.  To  any  such  plan  as  that  there  are  objections  enough,  and  it 
should  not  be  thought  of.  Having  no  dividends  to  pay  on  watered  stock,  the  Gov- 
ernment can  compete  with  the  private  companies,  and  so  compel  them  to  come  down 
to  a legitimate  business  basis.  Competition  will  insure  good  service  and  prompt  at- 
tention to  the  public  needs,  and  there  will  be  no  monopoly. 

[From  the  Richmond  State.] 

A BOLD  SCHEME  OUTLINED. 

It  may  be  that  Jay  Gould  has  forced  this  strike  on  his  operators  with  the  intention 
of  creating  a demand  among  the  business  people  of  the  country  for  a governmental 
telegraph,  when  he  will  try  to  lobby  the  Western  Union  lines  and  property  through 
Congress  for  an  enormous  price,  say  from  $80,000,000  to  $100,000,000;  but  in  this  we 
are  inclined  to  think  he  will  fail,  for  the  people  will  watch  Congress  with  keen  eyes. 

[From  the  Reading  Times.] 

“in  the  SWEET  BY  AND  BY.’’ 

This  can  best  be  done  by  the  passage  of  an  act  of  Congress  establishing  entirely  new 
Government  telegraph  lines  over  every  mail  route  in  the  country,  and  that  is  every- 
where. The  building  of  these  lines  will  afford  employment  to  thousands  of  people, 
and  the  purchase  of  poles,  wires,  and  other  fixtures  will  be  advantageous  to  large 
numbers  of  farmers  and  mechanics.  Our  surplus  revenues  can  in  no  way  be  better 
expended.  After  the  lines  are  completed,  a five-ceut  stamp  ought  to  take  a message 
of,  say,  twenty  or  thirty  words  to  any  part  of  the  country.  The  stamped  message  or 
telegraph  card  can  be  dropped  into  any  post-office  in  town  or  country,  or  little  boxes 
in  the  large  cities,  and  the  dispatch  will  be  sent  by  the  postal  operators  and  answer 
returned  in  the  same  way  without  further  trouble.  lu  this  way  all  the  business  of 
the  country  can  be  transacted  without  recourse  to  the  slow  process  of  letter  writing 
and  letter-mail  service.  What  is  more,  the  postal  telegraph  will  pay  from  the  start 
ev^en  at  the  low  rates  we  have  suggested,  and  yield  after  paying  all  working  expenses 
a fair  interest  bn  the  investment.  The  Government  can.  establish  a plant  better  than 
the  Western  Union’s  at  one-sixth  or  oiie-seventh  of  the  Western  Union’s  bloated  capi- 
tal of  $80,000,000.  There  will  not  be  a dollar  of  watered  stock  in  the  Government 
enterprise,  and  the  people  will  not  have  to  pay  a high  dividend  on  a fictitious  capital 
as  they  are  now  doing.  But  by  all  means  let  the  present  lines  be  continued  in  private 
hands.  They  will  be  a great  accommodation  as  competing  lines,  and  will  bring  the 
telegraph  rates,  whether  by  postal  or  private  lines,  down  to  the  lowest  figure. 

[From  the  Mobile  Register.] 

SENSIBLE  VIEW  OF  THE  SITUATION 

So  long  as  the  wires  remain  in  the  hands  of  a monopoly  so  long  will  the  business 
of  the  country  be  subjected  to  the  interruptions  and  losses  which  we  now  experience. 
Leaving  out  of  view  entirely  the  question  of  the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  demands 
of  t he  Brotherhood,  we  look  at  the  matter  entirely  from  the  selhsh  stand-point  of  the 
business  community.  The  people  are  compelled  to  pay  rates  yielding  an  enormous 
percentage  upon  stock  iucrea.sed  to  a fictitious  value. 

[ Fi’om  the  New  York  Star.] 

A NATURAL  ADJUNCT  TO  THE 'MAIL  SERVICE. 

It  is  easy  to  account  for  the  hostility  of  the  Tribune,  World,  and  Sun  to  the  postal-, 
telegraph  entei’in’ise  ; their  interests  lie  in  the  direction  of  maintaining  the  present 
monopoly,  to  which  they  are  indebted  for  exceptional  favors.  Besides,  Gould  and 
Vanderbilt  have  a rigid  gri})  on  some  of  them.  The  Herald,  however,  is  strong 
enough  and  rich  enough  to  attach  but  comparatively  slight  importance  to  its  Associ- 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


201 


ated  Press  privileges  ; hence  it  is  found  with  the  Chicago  Tribune,  the  Cincinnati 
Enquirer,  the  Star,  and  other  independent,  outspoken  journals,  waging  the  x)eople’s 
fight  against  an  overgrown  monopoly.  Only  those  papers  that  owe  nothing  to  mo- 
nopoly can  afford  to  speak  the  truth  and  advocate  even-handed  justice  in  a crisis  such 
as  must  now  he  met. 

If  a postal  telegraph  is  an  enterprise  menacing  to  popular  liberty,  then  we  should 
reconstruct  the  Post-office  and  place  it  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Jay  Gould  and  his  associ- 
ate capitalists. 

We  are  surprised  at  the  attitude  of  the  World,  which  has  ostensibly  abjured  Jay 
Gould  only  to  retain  the  form  of  a promonopoly  advocate.  Borrowing  the  s])eciou8 
fallacies  of  the  Suuj  it  contends  that  if  the  Government  establishes  a postal  telegraph 
it  should  also  go  into  the  business  of  buymg  up  and  operating  railroads,  taking 
charge  of  all  the  schools  in  the  country,  etc.  To  some  persons  this  may  seem  plausi- 
ble, but  it  will  not  bear  scrutiny  when  we  recollect  that  the  postal  telegraph  is  pro- 
posed simply  and  entirely  as  the  natural  and  fitting  adjunct  of  the  mail  service.  A 
project  to  secure  cheap,  speedy,  and  p opular  telegraphy  of  this  sort  is  no  more  un- 
democratic than’ a general  penny  post — to  which  complexion,  in  these  days  of  en- 
larged mail  facilities,  the  post-office  system  must  sooner  or  later  come. 

One  other  fear  oppresses  the  opponents  of  a postal  telegraph.  They  apprehend 
that  political  messages  would  no  longer  be  safe,  but  would  be  tampered  with  by  the 
minions  of  the  party  in  power.  It  is  not  a weighty  argument.  In  the  first  place, 
cijiher  codes  are  accessible  to  everybody.  In  the  next  place,  no  service  could  hardly 
be  more  untrustworthy  than  was  that  of  the  Western  Union  Company  in  1876,  when 
the  Republicans  controlled  its  disi)atches  and  the  corporation  permitted  the  secrets 
of  its  patrons  to  be  violated  and  bandied  about.  Now  that  we  have  begun  to  in- 
augurate civil-service  reform,  a much  more  reliable  service  could  be  assured.  A post- 
master or  letter-carrier  may  be  appointed  as  a reward  tor  partisan  services,  but  no 
such  method  could  apply  to  exj^ert  telegraphers.  Their  positions  could  not  be  filled 
from  among  ward  workers  or  party  hacks. 

Desirable  as  it  obviously  is,  still  it  will  bo  no  easy  matter  to  obtain  the  establish- 
ment of  a postal  telegraph.  Any  bill  for  that  purpose  will  be  strenuously  antago- 
nized in  Congress  by  tbe  agents  of  the  existing  monopoly.  Money  will  not  be  spared 
to  defeat  such  a measure  and  postpone  the  inevitable.  Consequently  the  people 
should  now  begin  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  on  their  Representatives,  and  enlist  them 
for  the  overthrow  of  monopoly. 

[From  the  Boston  Traveller.] 

IT  WOULD  BE  A PROTECTION  TO  THE  PUBLIC. 

The  proposition  that  finds  most  favor,  as  we  gather  public  sentiment,  is  that  the 
Government  shall  construct  a telegraph  system  of  its  own,  connecting  all  the  chief 
centers  of  business  activity,  and  capable  of  amply  protecting  the  public  from  a sudden 
cessation  of  telegraph  service,  and  run  it  as  a branch  of  its  present  postal  business. 
This  would  leave  the  existing  companies  still  in  the  field,  but  not  its  absolute  masters. 
The  postal  telegraph  vvould  be  always  there  to  protect  the  public  from  extortionate 
rates,  and  at  the  same  time  to  deprive  the  employes  aud  the  companies  alike  of  the 
temptation  to  carry  their  contentions  to  unreasonable  lengths. 

[From  the  New  Haven  News.] 


IT  WOULD  ESTABLISH  A STANDARD  OF  COMPETITION. 

The  Government,  we  believe,  should  be  fully  equipped  for  the  transmission  of  intel- 
ligence by  telegraph  or  by  mail,  but  from  neither  occupation  should  it  exclude  pri- 
vate enterprise.  It  should  establish  a standard  of  competition — a reasonable  service 
at  a low  price,  but  not  so  low  as  not  to  yield  a moderate  percentage  of  profit.  It 
would  thus  render  it  impossible  for  a stock  watering  company  to  subsist  by^  robbing 
the  public.  Only  companies  doing  business  at  fair  rates  and  declaring  honest  divi- 
dends could  enter  into  rivalry  with  it.  Not  having  to  purchase  any  right  of  way,  the 
cost  to  the  Government  of  a newly  c instructed  telegraph,  touching  every  post-office 
in  the  country,  would  not  exceed  $20,000,000,  and  some  expert  estimates  have  been 
made  which  fix  it  as  low  as  $10,000,000.  Why  should  the  people  continue  to  pay  a 
profit  of  6 to  8 per  cent,  on  $80,000,000-of  bogus  capital  for  an  inefficient  service,  when 
for  3 or  4 per  cent,  on  $20,000,000  they  would  be  served  better  ? In  five  years  the 
whole  cost  of  the  Government  system  would  be  saved  to  the  people  in  the  difference 
between  6 per  cent,  of  $80,000,000  and  4 per  cent,  of  $20,000,000. 


202 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[From  the  Boston  Journal.] 

The  charges  for  telegraphic  service  could  be  largely  reduced  aud  yet  make  the 
system  self-sustaining.  The  Western  Union  lines,  it  is  estimated,  could  be  duplicated 
for  $20,000,000  at  least,  but  the  company  receives  a revenue  which  enables  it  to  pay 
6 per  cent,  dividends  on  over  $80,000,000  of  stock.  This  being  the  case,  it  is  fair  to 
assume  that  the  usual  rates  could  be  reduced  one-half  and  yet  be  sufficient  to  pay  the 
interest  on  the  cost  of  a new  system  and  pay  the  operating  expenses.  In  thiscoiiutry 
the  general  sentiment  is  not  favorable  to  the  interference  of  the  Government  in 
strictly  business  matters  ; consequently,  if  the  telegraphic  business  could  be  nianaged 
wisely  and  efficiently  by  private  enterprise  and  make  the  cbst  of  telegraphic  service 
just  and  reasonable,  the  general  sentiment  would  favor  a private  rather  than  a Gov- 
ernment telegraph.  If  there  comes  to  be  a general  demand  for  a postal  telegraph,  it 
will  be  due  to  the  conviction  of  the  people  that  under  existing  conditions  in  this 
country  it  is  impossible  to  secure  fair  service  otherwise. 

[From  the  Rome  Sentinel.] 

THE  POST-OFFICE  WILL  NOT  MONOPOLIZE  THE  BUSINESS. 

A.11  who  have  given  the  subject  any  attention  know  that  telegraphing  pays  im- 
mensely on  the  actual  capital  invested.  The  telegraphers,  one  would  think,  should 
be  the  best  paid  workmen  in  any  calling  of  equal  importance.  That  they  are  not,  and 
perceive  no  tendency  to  betterment  of  their  condition  otherwise  than  by  united  pro- 
test, they  strike.  Whereupon  the  Republican  leaders  array  themselves  by  the  side  of 
one  of  the  most  cheeky  and  foxy  corporations  in  existence  and  take  part  against  the 
workman,  who  will  do  well  to  note  the  fact  and  govern  himself  accordingly.  * ^ * 

What  is  the  carrying  of  packages  weighing  4 pounds  or  less  but  direct  competition 
with  the  express  companies  ? It  so  happens  that  both  of  these  facilities  of  the  De- 
partment are  a great  public  convenience,  aud  as  they  can  be  done  without  loss,  as^ 
the  revenues  of  the  Department  clearly  prove,  they  will  remain,  and  at  lower  rates, 
too,  from  October  next.  It  would  be  impracticable  for  the  Post-Office  to  undertake 
to  handle  all  telegraphic  business.  It  is  neither  asked  nor  desired  that  it  do  so.  But 
as  it  monopolizes  the  means  of  postal  communication,  it  might  very  well  add  thereto 
the  latest  improvements  in  the  rapid  interchange  of  messages  such  as  are  furnished 
by  the  telegraph  system. 

[From  the  Washington  Post.] 


ITS  GREAT  ADVANTAGES  WILL  BE  W’ELCOMED. 

Why  say  to  a citizen  “We  will  haul  your  message  to  San  Francisco  by  steam,  aud 
we  will  not  let  anybody  else  haul  it;  but  if  you  can’t  wait  for  our  slow  coach  go  to 
Mr.  Gould  and  he  will  wire  it  there  in  a few  minutes”? 

These  are  the  strong  arguments  on  both  sides,  and  they  will  be  repeated  in  a thou- 
sand shapes  in  the  houses  of  Congress  next  winter.  To  us  it  seems  evident  that  there 
is  a strong  tendency  toward  the  consummation  aimed  at  by  the  advocates  of  postal 
telegraphy.  When  it  comes  its  great  adv^antages  will  be  welcomed  by  all,  but  thero 
will  be  a deep-seated  and  well-grounded  apprehension  of  bad  results  from  a vast  in- 
crease of  the  number  of  office-holders. 

[From  the  Chicago  Herald.] 

A WONDER  THAT  IT  HAS  NOT  BEEN  DONE  BEFORE. 

Considering  the  value  of  such  an  adjunct  to  the  Post-Office  in  the  mere  matter  of 
regulating  telegraph  taritfs  we  wonder  that  it  has  not  been  erected  before  this.  But 
don’t  let  us  think  of  a Government  monopoly  of  telegraph  service,  for  that  means 
buying  out  the  extremely  thin  stock-water  of  the  present  companies  aud  transforming 
Mr.  Jay  Gould’s  Western  Union  stock  into  Government  bonds.  Not  just  yet.  Let 
us  have  a new  deal  and  see  how  it  will  work. 

[From  the  Salt  Lake  Tribune.] 


LET  THE  PEOPLE  SUBSCRIBE  FOR  THE  STOCK. 

The  remedy  is  the  postal  telegraph,  and,  if  necessary  to  carry  it  out  without  taxing 
directly  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  let  postal  savings  banks  be  added  and 
the  people  be  permitted  to  make  from  .$5  to  $100  subscriptions  to  the  stock.  If  the 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


20^ 


Democratic  Congress  will  this  winter  undertake  and  carry  this  through  to  success^ 
there  is  enough  in  it  to  elect  a President  next  year  on  the  success  which  will  follow 
the  measure. 

[From  the  Wheeling  Register.] 

. IT  WOULD  BENEFIT  EVERY  ONE. 

It  is  certain  that  the  time  predicted  by  Senator  Platt,  when  the  telegraph  shall  be 
not  only  the  rich  man’s  mail,  but  the  poor  man’s  mail  as  well,  would  be  brought  closer 
to  us  by  Governmental  control. 

[From  the  Chicago  Evening  Journal.] 

IT  WOULD  PREVENT  FURTHER  MONOPOLY. 

The  first  step  in  the  new  movement  is  to  determine  that  the  telegraph  business  shall 
cease  to  be  a monopoly  in  this  country,  and  then  the  details  can  easily  be  arranged 
afterward.  There  is  no  obligation  on  the  part  of  Congress  to  buy  out  any  of  the  ex- 
isting telegraph  companies.  Wh  u a bill  is  passed  providing  for  a postal-telegraphic 
system,  it  will  then  be  time  enough  for  the  Postmaster-General,  or  the  officers  in 
charge,  to  entertain  the  proposals  of  those  who  might  then  have  a certain  amount  of 
depreciated  telegraph  stock  to  dispose  of,  together  with  a liberal  amount  of  “ water.” 
“ Water”  has  become  mighty  cheap  in  this  country,  and  the  feeling  against  selfish 
monopolies  is  rapidly  increasing  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  Let  it  be  directed 
against  the  most  perfect  specimen  of  a monopoly  that  has  ever  grown  up  in  this 
country  until  the  people  are  exempt  from  its  exactions,  and  then  there  will  be  hope  of 
relief  in  other  directions  from  similar  evils. 

[From  the  New  Haven  Palladium.! 


ITS  STOCK  WILL  NOT  RE  WATERED. 

The  talk  about  the  Government  monopoly  of  the  telepraph  is  the  supremest  non- 
sense. Nobody  asks  for  such  a monopoly.  What  is  wanted  is  the  kind  of  Govern- 
ment telegraph  outlined  by  Senator  Edmunds  in  his  speech  at  the  last  session  of  Con- 
gress— a telegraph  supplemental  to  the  postal  system,  with  wires  established  at  first 
along  the  leading  postal  routes,  and  gradually  extended  until  all  the  post-offices  in 
the  country  are  connected,  one  with  another.  For  the  convenience  thus  afforded  the 
public  will  pay  what  it  costs,  and  the  Government,  which  does  not  water  its  stock, 
will  charge  no  more  than  cost.  Such  a system  would  not  necessarily  result  in  a mo- 
nopoly. It  would  not  drive  the  private  telegraph  companies  out  of  existence  any 
more  than  the  extension  of  the  postal  service  a few  years  ago  put  an  end  to  the  express 
business,  as  many  at  the  time  predicted  it  would.  Holders  of  the  Western  Union’s 
sixty  millions  of  watered  stock  might  mourn  over  the  shrinkage  of  their  dividends, 
but  there  would  be  no  call  for  sympathy  with  them.  The  people  would  be  benefited, 
and  the  telegraph  would  no  longer  be  “ the  rich  man’s  mail,”  but  be  at  the  service  of 
the  humblest  citizen  in  the  land. 

[From  the  Troy  Budget.] 

IT  WOULD  NOT  LARGELY  INCREASE  THE  PUBLIC  SERVICE. 

As  to  the  fears  expressed  with  reference  to  a probable  large  increase  in  office-hold- 
ers and  office-seekers,  there  do  not  appear  sufficient  or  reasonable  grounds  on  which  to 
base  them.  In  thousands  of  small  post-offices  the  clerk  would  simply  need  to  be  a 
telegraph  operator.  As  to  the  revolution  which  it  is  apprehended  might  follow  in 
the  changes  ordered  by  an  incoming  administration,  there  could  not  possibly  be  more 
than  is  constantly  going  on.  A change  of  postmasters  might  produce  a change  in 
clerks,  and  still  not  a like  change  in  telegraph  operators,  h’or  many  years  to  come 
skilled  operators  could  not  be  replaced  as  readily  as  ordinary  post-office  clerks  am 
now.  Again,  if  the  civil-service  rules  are  not  wholly  inoperative,  they  would  tend 
to  prevent  any  such  wholesale  changes  as  are  dreaded. 

As  to  the  other  branches  of  the  argument  urged  against  a monopoly  by  the  Govern- 
ment, this  is  to  be  said:  When  the  Government  added  to  the  postal  department  the 
business  of  sending  parcels,  it  did  not  crush  out  or  buy  up  the  express  companies. 
The  latter  were  simply  forced  out  of  a monopoly  and  into  a competition  which  re- 
duced the  rates  to  a more  reasonable  standard.  When  the  money-order  system  was 
devised  it  was  not  considered  necessary  for  the  Government  to  buy  up  all  the  banks. 


204 


POSTAL  TEJ.EGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


The  Western  Union  company  is  a huge  telegraph  monopoly.  It  has  absorbed  nearly  •( 
every  competing  telegraph  company,  and  boasts  of  its  success.  Its  actual  stock  of  •: 
$30,000,000  has  been  “ watered”  to  $H0,000,000.  It  is  calculated  that  $25,000,000  would  i 
establish  a postal  telegraph.  A message  which  now  costs  25  cents  could  then  be  sent  > 
for  10  cents  or  less. 

[From  the  Springfield  Republican.] 

ITS  ESTABLISHMENT  IS  A CLEAR  DUTY.  j 

The  first  duty  and  the  clear  duty  of  the  continental  Government  of  the  United  States  1 
is  to  regulate  the  telegraph  business. 

i ' 

[From  tbe  Indianapolis  Times.]  i 

THE  GOVERNMENT  IS  AT  THE  MERCY  OF  THE  PRESENT  MONOPOLY.  ; 

The  business  of  the  country  has  outgrown  even  the  fast-mail  lines,  and  the  de-  ^ 
mand  is  for  still  more  rapid  transmission  of  the  mails,  and  for  this  rapid  transmis-  ‘ 
sion  the  country  is  dependent  upon  a private  corporation,  and  the  cost  is  so  great  : 
that  a large  propoition  of  the  people  are  cut  off  from  its  use.  Again,  the  people  de- 
pend upon  the  press  for  its  news,  and  the  press  is  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  the 
telegraph  company.  The  company  has  its  power  to  ruin  any  newspaper  in  this  land 
at  any  time  by  simply  changing  the  rates  for  dispatches.  Papers  have  been  so  ru- 
ined. A payer  can  not  live  without  obtaining  and  publishing  the  news.  It  can  not 
obtain  the  news  except  by  the  aid  of  the  telegraph.  The  company  can,  when  it  sees 
-fit,  fix  a tariff  so  high  that  the  pajier  can  not  pay  it,  and  thus  shut  it  off  from  ob- 
taining the  only  thing  which  makes  it  valuable  property.  The  Government  itself  is 
a-t  the  mercy  of  the  telegraph  company. 

[From  tbe  Hartford  Times.] 

THE  INSOLENCE  OP  THE  WESTERN  UNION. 

] 

One  of  the  insolent  and  dictatorial  orders  of  the  Western  Union  is  that  a private  ^ 
house  (a  broker,  for  instance)  who  receives  stock  reports  and  pays  for  them  shall  not  ‘ 
sell  them  to  any  newspaper,  nor  permit  any  newspaper  to  copy  them  from  the  broker’s  ■ 
bulletin,  though  the  newspaper  shall  agree  to  purchase  the  regular  reports  of  the 
Western  Union,  or  the  Press  Association,  and  pay  for  them  at  regular  prices.  The 
object  of  the  newspaper  in  purchasing  of  the  broker  would  be  to  accommodate  the 
public  with  news  of  the  latest  sale  of  stocks  perhaps  ten  minutes  earlier  than  it  could 
do  so  l*y  purchasing  the  regular  press  reports.  No  one  would  be  harmed  should  the 
reports  be  taken  from  the  broker’s  bulletin;  but  the  Western  Union  says:  ‘‘No;  if 
you  (the  broker)  permit  the  copy  to  be  taken  we  will  cut  you  off  from  the  wire.” 
This  is  one  instance  of  its  insolence.  There  are  other  grievances,  of  which  the  press 
all  over  the  country  complains ; and  we  look  upon  it  as  an  encouraging  indication  of 
better  times  when  the  press  speaks  out  upon  this  subject  with  so  much  freedom  and 
frankness  as  has  marked  its  course  the  past  two  weeks.  Let  us  have  peace  and  fair  i 
l)la3L  The  New  York  Herald  says: 

“Everybody  who  has  considered  the  question  knows  that  the  telegraph  is  not  yet 
used  to  one-tenth  the  extent  that  it  ought  to  be,  and  would  be  were  it  not  that  rates 
have  been  kept  unduly  high  by  the  Western  Union  stock- waterers  in  order  to  secure 
dividends  on  their  enormously  inflated  stock,  and  were  it  not,  besides,  for  the  poor 
and  irregular  service,  which  discourages  the  use  of  the  telegraph  except  when  it  is 
absolutely  required.”  ^ 

[From  the  Easton  (Pa.)  Free  Press.] 

A CHECK  TO  DISHONEST  GREED. 

A postal-telegraph  system,  whereby  the  best  telegraphic  facilities  will  be  given  the 
people  at  the  very  lowest  cost,  is  wliat  is  wanted.  Let  the  Government  pay  for  a new 
plant,  and  let  the  established  companies,  which  have  swindled  the  public,  take  care 
of  themselves.  There  is  no  reason,  except  the  dishonest  greed  of  the  Western  Union  , 
Telegraph  Company,  why  the  ])eople  should  not  have  ample  means  of  using  tbe  tele-  ; 
grajih  at  one-third  of  what  telegraphing  now  costs.  This  proposition  for  a Govern-  ’ 
ment  postal-telegraph  service  is  being  advocated  very  generally  by  the  press  not  sub- 
ject  to  the  dictation  of  big  monopolists.  The  objections  against  it  that  it  will  too  v. 
largely  augment  the  power  of  the  Government, ,:ind  enable  a successful  partisan  or-  ‘ 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


205 


ganization  to  wield  too  great  an  influence  through  official  patronage,  can  not  be 
urged  with  reason.  No  party  will  stay  in  power  that  ignores  civil-service  reform^ 
which  has  begun  to  develop  under  a regularly-constituted  commission,  and  which 
will  hereafter  prevent  the  use  of  Federal  patronage  for  partisan  ends.  The  Forty- 
eighth  Congress  will  probably  receive  a loud  call  from  the  people  to  establish  a postal- 
telegraph  system,  to  be  conducted  as  successfully  and  satisfactorily  as  the  ijresent 
postal  system. 

[From  the  New  York  Star.] 

The  revenue  of  the  Western  Union  in  1882  was  $17,140,000. 

[From  the  Nashville  American.] 

'a  bill  to  come  before  the  next  congress. 

As  to  the  apprehensions  touching  the  civil  service,  the  Baltimore  American  thinks 
that  the  time  required  to  become  a skilled  operator  involves  an  apprenticeship,  and 
this  enforces  a permanence  of  tenure  of  office  which  mere  political  clerkships  do  not 
naturally  enjoy.  It  is  claimed  that  the  Government  could  build  its  own  lines  for  less 
than  one-fonrth  of  the  inflated  value  of  the  Western  Union,  and  it  is  announced  that 
a bill  to  carry  out  this  plan  will  be  introduced  in  Congress  at  the  coming  session.  It 
is  asserted  by  telegraphic  experts  that  the  Government  could  establish  a postal  tele- 
graph system  for  $15,000,000,  and  without  necessity  of  buying  right  of  way,  as  it  can 
establish  aline  along  every  post-route. 

[From  theNewburyport  H<irald.] 

CONGRESS  EXPECTED  TO  SOLVE  THE  DIFFICULTY. 

Most  likely  Congress  will  look  upon  it  and  solve  the  difficulty  by  having  its  own 
lines  in  competition  and  ready  at  all  times  to  do  the  whole  telegraphic  business  of  the 
country  with  competent  operators  and  at  reasonable  rates. 

(From  the  Memphis  Appeal.] 

FURTHER  EXTORTION  MADE  IMPOSSIBLE. 

4 

The  dispatches  would  be  delivered  in  the  ordinary  course  of  the  letter-carriers 
rounds,  and  would  have  for  one  of  the  results  an  extension  of  the  postal-delivery  sys- 
tem. For  this  the  people  would  pay  only  what  the  cost  was  to  the  Government ; 
there  would  be  no  watered  stock  to  provide  dividends  for,  and  no  extortionate,  greedy 
monopoly  to  support  and  submit  to.  Under  this  system  a great  and  increasing  mass 
of  business  and  press  correspondence,  which  requires  a quicker  than  post  delivery, 
would  go  to  private  lines  as  at  present.  Upon  those  lines  the  postal  telegraph,  with 
its  moderate  charges,  would  be  a check,  and  further  extortion  would  become  impos- 
sible. 

[From  the  Covington  Commonwealth,] 

IT  WOULD  PUT  A CHECK  TO  ARROGANCE. 

As  a general  rule  we  are  opposed  to  either  the  general  or  local  government  taking 
part  in  outside  matters,  but  here  is  a bloated  monopoly  that  has  arrogantly  arrayed 
itself  against  the  public,  and  which  has  attained  such  vast  proportions  as  either  to 
buy  out  or  swamp  all  opposition,  for  the  only  attempts  that  have  been  made  with  any 
vigor  have  been  ended  with  the  inevitable  “ amalgamation.”  Most  of  the  Canadian 
press  is  anxious  to  cut  loose  from  the  Western  Union,  which  is  described  as  a “ grind- 
ing monopoly,  which,  for  its  own  greed,  cares  not  how  much  it  may  convulse  the 
business  of  the  whole  country,  derange  traffic,  interrupt  communication,  or  put  all. 
classes  to  inconvenience.” 


[From  the  Rome  Sentinel.] 

THE  PRESENT  LINES  WOULD  STILL  EXIST. 

The  Government  telegraph,  according  to  the  idea  which  obtains  among  the  majority  ^ 
of  those  who  have  considered  the  subject,  should  be  an  adjunct  of  the  postal  system..' 
With  wires  running'into  every  office,  a message  or  letter  from  Chicago  to  Rome 


206 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


would  be  received  within  a few  hours,  and  put  into  the  box  of  the  person  to  whom 
it  was  addressed.  In  the  case  of  cities  having  carriers  the  telegrams  would  be  deliv- 
ered the  same  as  ordinary  letters.  The  charges  could  not  help  being  very  moderate  ■ 
compared  with  the  present  cost  of  messages.  The  Government  has  no  watered  stock, 
nnd  no  business  with  any.  The  present  lines  would  exist  and  be  welcome  to  all  the 
business  they  could  obtain.  The  Government  would  thus  have  no  monopoly.  Its 
rates  would  regulate  those  of  private  lines,  the  competition  would  be  the  healthiest 
known,  for  it  would  be  competition  incapable  of  being  bought  off  by  any  pretext,  de- 
Tice,  manner,  or  means  whatever. 

[From  the  Buffalo  Express.] 

NO  PAYMENT  TO  JAY  GOULD  FOR  WATER.  ; 

Undoubtedly  there  would  be  a strong  popular  feeling  against  buying  the  property  j 
of  the  existing  telegraph  companies  at  anything  like  the  value  which  their  wires,  | 
poles,  etc.,  are  supposed  to  represent  in  capital  stock.  The  people  would  not  be  will-  1 
ing  to  have  the  Government  pay  Jay  Gould,  or  any  other  monopolist,  any  very  large  i 
sum  for  water.  There  is  a strong  opinion  that  the  telegraph  autocrats  have  taken 
out  of  the  public  already,  one  way  or  another,  much  more  than  they  ever  put  into 
"the  business,  and  if  the  business  should  be  ruined  for  them,  and  their  vast  blocks  of  : 
shares  prove  worthless  on  their  hands,  the  public  would  not  care  much.  ' 

[From  the  Pottsville  Miners’  Journal.]. 

ALMOST  SURE  TO  BE  ADOPTED.  ' 

It  is  reasonably  certain  that  a bill  for  the  carrying  out  of  this  project  will  be  in- 
troduced in  the  next  Congress.  If  the  sentiment  of  the  country  shall  be  found  un-  j 
mistakably  favoring  it,  there  will  be  an  almost  absolute  certainty  of  its  passage. 

[From  the  Public,  New  York.]  ' ' 

BUSINESS  MEN  AND  THE  PEOPLE  AT  LARGE  DEMAND  IT.  ! 

Finally,  we  have  the  postal  telegraph  plan,  which  Senators  Edmunds  and  Sherman  I 
have  already  advocated  very  ably.  Mr.  Edmunds  has  announced  that  lie  will  intro-  * 
du(fe  a bill  to  that  end  as  soon  as  Congress  assembles.  The  Herald  has  devoted  much  ^ 
space  to  the  advocacy  of  the  plan,  and  many  inlinential  journals  are  already  com-  f 
mitted  to  it.  The  essence  of  this  plan  is  that  Government  shall  establish  lines  at  i 
first  between  the  principal  post-offices,  and  afterward  to  other  points  as  fast  as  may  J 
be  consistent  with  a reasonable  economy,  until  it  shall  eventually  be  enabled  to  send  j 
any  letter  to  its  distination  by  wire  if  the  sender  chooses  to  pay  a moderate  additional  J 
charge.  At  a great  number  of  places  the  same  persons  could  aco  as  postmasters  and  | 
telegraphers;  extra  expense  for  offices  would  not  be  required  ; the  right  to  establish  -I 
post-routes  would  be  invoked  to  secure  rights  of  way  at  a very  low  cost,  and  thus,  1 
without  interfering  with  existing  lines  for  telegraph  or  railroad  purposes,  the  public  jj 
would  obtain  a separate  telegraphic  system  in  no  way  connected  with  the  jobs  of  the  J 
stock  market,  and  forever  preventing  a monopoly  in  telegraph  service.  v 

Constitutional  objections  to  this  plan  are  hardly  to  be  considered,  since  lawyers  so  J 
sound  and  conservative  as  Senators  Edmunds  and  Sherman  have  committed  them-  f.j 
selves  to  it.  Senator  Platt,  of  Connecticut,  also  a lawyer  of  high  rank,  advocated  the 
same  measure  very  ably,  but  with  the  notion  that,  in  order  to  establish  a postal  sys-  -V 
tern,  the  Government  would  purchase  the  lines  of  the  existing  companies.  That  plan  . J 
would  meet,  and  ought  to  meet,  a determined  opposition.  The  great  merit  of  Mr.  a 
Edmunds’s  proposition  is  that  it  secures  the  country  against  a monopoly.  We  want  ^ 
no  monopoly  in  this  business,  whether  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  or  of  a corpora-  || 
tion.  There  is  safety  only  in  preserving  permanently  two  competing  systems,  either  f 
of  which  must  depend  for  its  revenues  and  its  very  existence  upon  renuering  service  / 
with  promptness  and  fidelity.  ^ 

The  Government  itself  absolutely  needs  a telegraphic  system  for  its  own  protection.  J 
Tills  will  not  seem  the  language  of  exaggeration  when  it  is  considered  that  the  or-  S 
dinary  enforcement  of  laws,  the  capture  of  offenders,  the  success  of  fiscal  operations,  J 
the  protection  of  the  country  against  domestic  insurrection  or  foreign  invasion  have  M 
come  to  depend  in  these  days  upon  the  instant  transmission  of  intelligence  with  cer- 
tain  and  absolute  secrecy.  It  may  at  any  time  come  to  pass  that  the  private  interests  H 
of  those  controlling  a telegraph  system  shall  reipiire  the  non-enforcement  of  the  law,  fl 
the  escape  of  a criminal,  the  prevention  or  delay  of  a financial  operation,  or  the  par-  ■ 
tial  success  of  a domestic  outbreak  or  foreign  inroad.  It  is  nonsense  to  say  that  this  9 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


207 


can  not  happen.  If  Mr.  Gould  could  suppress  for  a few  hours  or  days  news  of  an  out- 
break on  the  Pacitic  coast,  or  of  the  dei)arture  of  a hostile  iron-clad  from  Euroj)e,  he 
could  make  millions  by  it.  The  Government  has  no  certainty  that  he  would  throw 
away  millions.  It  has  no  certainty  that  its  orders  bearing  on  great  financial  opera- 
tions may  not  be  betrayed  and  its  aims  thwarted.  When  the  Government  was  hunt- 
ing for  star  route  offenders,  how  many  would  have  been  caught  if  its  dispatches  had 
bet'u  secretly  betrayed  ? An  important  witness  happened  to  be  a Government  director 
of  the  Union  Pacific  Railroad,  and  it  has  always  been  a mysterious  fact  that  the  of- 
ficers in  search  of  him  could  never  catch  him.  The  administration  has  been  blamed 
for  that.  Who  knows  that  the  administration  was  at  all  in  fault  ? On  the  other  hand, 
a monopoly  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  would  be  equally  dangerous  to  the  peo- 
ple. These  is  no  need  of  arguing  this  point — Americans  instinctively  realize  its  force. 
Americans  do  not  mean  to  give  power  to  any  one  party  in  such  shape  that  they  shall 
never  have  an  equal  chance  to  take  it  back  if  they  choose.  Therefore  they  will  not 
tolerate  a Government  monopoly  of  telegraphic  service. 

More  broadly,  the  people  in  their  political  capacity  absolutely  need  two  complete 
systems.  This  country  needs  two  parties  in  order  to  make  the  Government  pure  and 
healthy.  But  it  will  soon  be  seen  that  there  can  not  be  two  parties  with  a chance 
of  success  for  either,  if  there  are  not  two  competing  telegraphic  systems,  neither  of 
which  can  ever  buy,  absorb,  or  crush  out  the  other.  The  Government  will  have  no 
temptation  to  earn  large  dividends  on  watered  stock,  and  the  competition  will  at  all 
events  keep  down  the  charges  for  telegraphic  service  to  a reasonable  figure. 

The  main  reason  for  a change  is  not  economy,  nor  relief  from  the  possibility  of 
strikes;  it  is  the  public  safety.  A double  system  of  telegraph  lines,  that  can  never  be 
consolidated,  secretly  bought  up,  conducted  for  stock-jobbing  ends,  or  crushed  out  in 
competition,  has  become  a national,  public,  and  political  nect^ssity.  We  do  not  agree 
with  Mr.  Edmunds  that  the  postal  system  should  be  constructed  little  by  little.  Gov- 
ernment can  sell  3 per  cent,  bunds  at  par,  and  the  revenues  from  the  wires  will  pay 
the  interest  as  fast  as  the  system  can  be  extended.  If  there  is  need,  there  is  need  now. 
If  it  is  the  right  of  the  people  in  their  capacity  as  a nation  and  as  individuals  to  have 
their  choice  of  two  servants,  with  respect  to  secrecy,  certainty,  and  speed,  the  sooner 
they  have  that  choice  the  better. 

[From  the  Chicago  Tribune.  1 

THE  'PURCHASE  OF  EXISTING  LINES  WILL  NOT  BE  TOLERATED. 

The  discussion  of  the  project  fora  national  telegraph  system  is  broadening  every 
day,  and  public  sentiment  promises  to  be  well  organized  by  the  time  Congress  meets. 
If,  then,  a man  like  Edmunds  or  Logan  in  the  Senate,  and  Randall,  Carlisle,  or  Holman 
in  the  House,  shall  take  hold  of  the  matter,  it  may  be  pushed  forward  to  a realization 
before  the  end  of  the  next  session. 

There  are  some  general  principles  upon  which  all  the  advocates  of  Government 
telegraph  are  ready  to  agree.  One  is  that  the  Government  shall  construct  its  own 
lines.  Another  is  that  there  shall  be  no  attempt  at  a Government  monopoly  of  the 
telegraph  business.  A third  is  that  telegraph  facilities  shall  be  added  to  the  existing 
postal  system,  just  as  express  facilities  were  added  two  or  three  years  ago. 

1.  No  business  principle  will  indorse,  and  the  sentiment  of  the  country  will  not  tol- 
erate, the  purchase  of  telegraph  lines  now  in  operation  at  a price  corresponding  to 
the  aggregate  of  fictitious  capital  stock.  The  capital  stock  of  the  Western  Union 
Company  is  $80,000,000.  It  has  grown  abnormally  under  the  influence  of  irrigation. 
Its  assets  are  made  up  in  large  part  of  leases,  payments  made  to  extinguish  competi- 
tion and  intangible  manipulations. 

2.  There  is  not  the  slightest  moral  obligation  upon  the  Government  to  buy  out  the 
existing  companies  upon  any  terms.  This  is  apparent  enough  from  the  fact  that  the 
Government  has  never  interfered,  and  nobody  would  ever  think  of  suggesting  an  in- 
terference, with  the  construction  of  competing  telegraph  lines  with  private  capital. 
Such  competition  would  be  too  clearly  in  the  interest  of  the  x^eople  to  admit  of  Gov- 
ernment discouragement,  if  experience  had  not  demonstrated  that  in  private  hands 
it  is  merely  a species  of  black-mail.  If  the  Government  shall  build  an  indei)endent 
system  of  telegraph,  there  will  be  a guaranty  against  black-mail,  and  protection  for 
the  public  against  combination. 

3.  It  is  better  in  every  way  that  the  Government  should  compete  in  the  transmis- 
sion of  telegraphic  correspondence  than  endeavor  to  monopolize  it.  If  the  men  in 
control  of  the  Government  should  ever  take  advantage  of  its  telegraphic  facilities  to 
pay  excessive  salaries  to  its  employes,  and  to  that  end  charge  the  public  exhorbitant 
rates,  or  if  confidential  communications  on  business,  social,  or  political  affairs  were 
betrayed  by  the  Government  service,  the  people  would  have  the  competing  private 
lines  to  fall  back  upon,  and  would  prefer  to  jiay  the  companies  higher  rates  to  make 
sure  of  inviolability.  In  this  way  comxietition  vvould  be  a wholesome  and  permanent 


208  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


restraint  upon  the  Government  and  the  men  in  control,  as  well  as  upon  the  private 
companies. 

4.  While  the  Government’s  right  to  set  up  a competing  telegraph  service  can  not  he 
denied,  and  while  the  Government  could  not  justify  the  purchase  of  existing  lines  at 
the  fictitious  price  represented  as  their  capital  stock,  it  must  be  admitted  that  it  would 
be  conspicuously  unfair  for  the  Government  to  establish  its  own  system  and  then  use 
its  power  to  declare  a monopoly  of  the  telegraph  business.  There  is  no  need,  and 
there  would  be  no  excuse,  for  such  a course.  All  the  people  want  is  assured  competi- 
tion, which  shall  furnish  the  telegraph  service  at  the  lowest  rate,  and  a guaranty 
that  electric  correspondence  shall  not  be  cut  off  at  any  time  by  combinations  of  cap- 
ital or  by  combinations  of  labor. 

The  course  for  the  Government  to  take  in  this  matter  has  been  completely  outlined 
by  the  addition  of  the  parcel  or  express  business  to  the  postal  system.  The  machin- 
ery and  the  work  of  the  postal  service  were  increased  enormously  by  taking  in  this 
new  branch  of  service,  but  the  result  has  proved  that  competition  in  the  express 
business  could  be  furnished  to  the  public  through  Government  agency  without  in- 
volving the  Post-Office  Department  in  loss,  and  without  driving  the  express  compa- 
nies out  of  business.  Precisely  the  same  thing  may  be  done  with  the  telegraph. 
There  is  a popular  demand  for  it  which  Congress  should  recognize  at  the  very  next 
session.  No  party  opposition  can  be  organized  against  it  in  reason.  In  1882  the  ex- 
penses of  the  postal  service  were  something  more  thair$40,000,000,  and  it  was  admin- 
istered at  a little  profit,  which  led  to  the  reduction  of  letter  postal  to  2 cents.  It 
will  be  a small  matter  to  add  |5, 000,000  a year  of  expense  to  the  present  machinery — 
and  this  is  about  the  total  amount  of  salaries  and  wages  paid  by  the  Western  Union 
Company — and  the  receipts  of  the  telegraph  branch  of  the  Department,  at  low  rates, 
will  still  make  the  Department  self-sustaining.  The  undertaking  is  not  nearly  S0‘ 
formidable  when  looked  at  closely  as  it  appears  to  be  at  first  sight.  Private  capital- 
ists are  not  dismayed  at  a proposition  to  span  the  continent  with  telegraph  wires ; 
certainly  the  Government,  which  can  borrow  money  at  3 per  cent.,  need  not  hesitate 
to  assume  an  investment  of  $20,000,000  for  the  benefit  of  the  people,  which  is  bound 
to  be  self-sustaining. 

[From  the  New  York  Star.] 

CONSERVATIVE  AND  WORTHY  OF  CONSIDERATION. 

It  is  a significant  coincidence  that  both  the  World  and  the  Sun  had  editorials  yes- 
terday morning  condemning  a postal  telegraph,  and  that  both  of  them  presented  the 
same  stale  objections  to  that  measure,  which  have  been  auswered  time  and  again. 
The  style  of  the  two  editorials  is  unlike,  but  the  spirit  is  the  same,  as  though  both 
were  inspired  by  one  person.  And  as  they  both  represent  the  interests  of  the  W^'est- 
ern  Union  monopoly,  contending  that  it  is  safer  and  wiser  and  better  to  put  the  whole 
telegraph  business  into  its  hands  than  to  trust  it  to  the  American  people,  to  be  man- 
aged as  they  manage  the  postal  business,  it  needs  no  search  with  a lantern  to  dis- 
cover the  person  who  probably  inspired  them.  But  the  difference  between  the  two 
editorials  is  striking,  as  though  the  editor  of  each  paper  undertook  to  venture  some- 
thing beyond  his  instructions  on  his  own  authority. 

The  objections  pressed  by  these  organs  of  monopoly  have  no  real  force.  For  in- 
stance, the  World  says  it  will  be  dangerous  to  put  the  telegraph  into  the  control  of 
the  Government,  because  this  would  ^‘establish  a partisan  telegraph  monopoly,”  for 
“ in  the  United  States,  every  Federal  officer  is  required  to  be  a political  adherent  of 
the  party  which  gives  him  his  position,  and  to  aid  it  with  his  vote  and  his  assessment 
at  every  election.”  Our  esteemed  contemporary  has  evidently  forgotten  that  the  last 
Congress  passed  a bill,  which  the  President  signed,  forbidding  the  assessment  of  any 
Federal  office-holder  or  employ  6 for  partisan  purposes  under  heavy  penalties;  that  Con- 
gress passed  a civil  service  bill,  which  the  President  also  signed,  under  which  every  Fed- 
eral officer  is  not  “required  to  be  a political  adherent  of  the  party  which  gives  him 
his  position.”  It  would  be  well  for  the  World  to  learn  the  facts  of  the  situation  be- 
fore it  rushes  into  the  whirlpool  of  controversy.  Besides,  if  the  Government  control 
of  the  telegraph  service  would  be  dangerous,  because  it  would  be  partisan,  the  Gov- 
ernment regulation  of  the  telegraph  service,  which  would  be  equally  partisan,  would 
be  dangerous  also.  The  World  proposes  that  the  same  partisan  Government  which 
can  not  be  trusted  to  control  the  telegraph  service — that  is  trusted  to  control  the  pos- 
tal service,  and  does  the  work  wonderfully  well — shall  x>ass  laws  forbidding  the  con- 
solidation of  parallel  telegraph  lines,  and  “prohibiting  the  illegal  issue  of  stock, 
and  making  the  watering  process  impossible.”  It  insists  that  competition  is  the  sole 
remedy  for  all  the  abuses  of  the  present  system.  Had  the  editor  of  that  interest- 
ing paper  lived  long  in  the  United  States,  he  would  know  that  competition  has  had 
its  way  and  day  in  the  telegraph  business,  and  has  utterly  broken  down.  The  pres- 
ent state  of  things  has  grown  directly  out  of  the  very  comj)etition  he  clamors  for  as  a 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


209 


reiueuy  to  the  present  state  of  things.  The  result  of  the  efforts  made  thus  far  to  pre- 
vent the  consolidatiou  of  railroad  lines  and  the  watering  of  stock  should  convince 
every  reasonable  man  of  the  futility  of  trying  to  prevent  the  practical  consolidation 
of  parallel  telegraph  lines.  The  tendency  to  monopoly  in  railroad  and  telegraph  cor- 
porations is  ingrained  and  virtually  irresistible.  Besides,  if  the  federal  Government 
is  so  demoralized  by  its  partisanship  that  it  can  not  be  trusted  to  control  the  tele- 
graph service  as  it  does  the  postal  service,  how  can  it  be  trusted  to  settle  all  the  in- 
tricate questions  respecting  the  rights  and  interests  of  rival  telegraph  corporations 
operating  in  thirty-eight  States  and  half  a dozen  Territories? 

We  respectfully  submit  that  the  World  should  lose  no  time  in  consulting  Mr.  Gould, 
the  fountain-head  of  information  on  all  questions  which  involve  the  interests  of  the 
telegraph  monopoly. 

The  Sun  starts  out  with  the  assertion  that  a considerable  number  of  the  advocates 
of  the  postal  telegraph  “seem  lately  to  have  become  convinced  that  Government 
regulation,  instead  of  Government  ownership  and  direct  control,  will  suffice  to  pro- 
tect the  interests  of  the  people.”  It  is  unfortunate  that  our  contemporary  did  not 
take  the  trouble  to  mention  at  least  one  of  the  advocates  of  a postal-telegraph  service 
who  has  abandoned  that  idea  as  impracticable.  We  know  of  no  such  man.  Almost 
every  mail  brings  some  paper  advocating  a postal  telegraph  which  had  never  taken 
that  ground  before.  The  drift  of  public  sentiment,  as  shown  by  the  press  of  the 
country,  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  a postal  telegraph,  and  the  volume  of  that  sentiment 
is  increasing.  The  Sun  has  drawn  upon  its  wishes  for  its  facts,  and  bases  an  argu- 
ment on  an  assumption  that  can  not  be  supported. 

The  striking  point  in  the  Sun’s  article,  however,  is  that  it  takes  no  stock  whatever 
in  the  World’s  project  for  Government  regulation  of  the  telegraph  business.  It  con- 
cedes that  the  measure  “is  more  conservative  and  worthy  of  consideration”  than 
that  of  a postal  telegraph,  but  still  there  are  so  many  difficulties  in  the  way  that  it  is 
virtually  impracticable,  and  can  hardly  be  discussed  until  the  advocates  of  the  meas- 
ure agree  as  to  what  they  want  the  Government  to  do.  We  commend  the  discreet 
and  energetic  skepticism  of  the  editor  of  the  Sun  to  the  somewhat  impulsive  and  al- 
together too  effluent  editor  of  the  World.  ^ 

The  Sun  informs  its  readers  that  it  has  already  shown  that  the  proposed  postal  tel- 
egraph “is  one  of  the  most  objectionable  and  dangerous  political  projects  of  recent 
times.”  This  will  be  startling  news  to  its  readers  and  the  rest  of  mankind.  As  that 
paper  has  merely  repeated  in  oracular  and  autocratic  terms  the  forceless,  fallacious, 
and  stale  objections  raised  by  monopolists  against  the  measure,  it  is  hard  to  tell 
which  is  the  more  remarkable — the  coolness  of  its  assumption,  or  the  absurdity  of  its 
claim. 

[From  the  New  York  Sun.] 

UNWORTHY  OF  CONGRESSIONAL  FAVOR. 

Neither  the  plan  to  buy  out  tlie  existing  telegraph  companies  nor  the  proposal  that 
the  Government  shall  build  new  lines  and  enter  into  competition  with  the  Western 
Union  and  other  companies,  deserves  the  least  favor  from  Congress. 

[From  the  Indianapolis  Times.] 


IT  WILL  PREVENT  PARALYSIS  OF  BUSINESS. 

The  business  of  the  country  has  outgrown  e ven  the  fast  mail  lines,  and  the  demand 
is  for  still  more  rapid  transmission  of  the  mails,  and  for  this  rapid  transmission  the 
country  is  dependent  upon  a private  corporation,  and  the  cost  is  so  great  that  a large 
proportion  of  the  people  are  cut  off  from  its  use.  Again,  the  people  depend  upon  the 
press  for  their  news,  and  the  press  is  absolutely  at  the  mercy  of  the  telegraph  com- 
pany. The  company  has  the  power  to  ruin  any  newspaper  in  this  land,  at  any  time, 
by  simply  changing  the  rates  for  dispatches.  Papers  have  been  so  ruined.  A paper 
can  not  live  without  obtaining  and  publishing  the  news.  It  can  not  obtain  the  news 
except  by  the  aid  of  the  telegraph.  The  company  can,  when  it  sees  fit,  fix  a tariff  so 
high  that  the  paper  can  not  pay  it,  and  thus  shut  it  off  from  obtaining  the  only  thing 
which  makes  it  valuable  property.  The  Government  itself  is  at  the  mercy  of  the 
telegraph  company. 

The  Signal  Service  of  the  Government  has  become  a necessity  in  the  preservation 
of  property  and  shipping  upon  the  rivers,  lakes,  and  seas,  and  for  the  preservation 
of  human  life,  and  its  importance  to  the  interests  of  commerce  is  incalculable  ; yet  in 
1870  these  interests  were  all  jeopardized  and  the  Signal  Service  brought  to  a suspen- 
sion by  the  refusal  of  the  telegraph  company  to  accept  the  terms  offered  by  the  Gov- 
ernment. The  business  of  the  commercial  world  has  been  thrown  into  confusion 

P T 14 


210 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


during  the  past  three  weeks  by  the  strike  of  the  operators.  But  there  is  still  another 
and  greater  danger.  The  telegraphic  lines  of  tliis  country  are  practically  in  the  , 
hands  of  one  man,  and  that  man  a gigantic  speculator.  He  has  in  his  power  the  only 
means  of  instantaneous  transmission  of  news,  not  only  throughout  this  country,  but 
across  the  ocean.  Having  this  power,  he  can  at  any  time,  for  his  own  speculative 
purposes,  suppress  the  transmission  of  news  until  the  business  of  the  whole  country 
could  be  paralyzed. 

[From  the  Davenport  Gazette.] 

ITS  RESULTS  WILL  BE  BENEFICIAL.  i 

If,  therefore,  such  results  attend  the  extension  of  postal  operations  and  the  increase 
of  their  service  to  the  people  in  all  directions,  what  is  to  hinder  attainment  of  simi- 
larly beneficent  results  were  telegraphy  also  included  in  the  functions  of  the  Post- 
Office  Department  ? 

[From  the  Denver  News.]  1 


THE  ONLY  HOPE  OF  THE  PEOPLE  FROM  EXACTION  AND  DELAY. 


In  this  scheme  lies  the  only  hope  of  relief  which  the  people  have  from  such  occur-  , 
rences  as  strikes  and  such  exactions  as  excessive  charges. 

The  Government  has  as  much  right  to  forward  communications  between  the  peo-  , 
pie  by  wire  as  by  mail.  It  is  only  a different  form  of  the  same  service.  It  would  be  • 
a saving  of  millions  every  year  to  the  business  interests  of  the  country  if  the  Govern- 
ment  had  a telegraphic  service  which  would  forward  and  deliver  messages  at  cost,  as 
letters  and  periodicals  are  now  forwarded  and  delivered.  j 

It  is  quite  certain  that  at  the  next  session  of  Congress  a determined  effort  will  be  ' 
made  to  secure  the  establishment  of  a postal  telegraph,  and  the  probability  is  that  it  J 
will  prove  successful. 

[From  the  Trenton  Times.] 


THE  PROJECT  IS  FAVORABLY  RECEIVED.  I 

The  proposal  to  establish  a postal-telegraph  system  under  the  supervision  and  con-  . 
trol  of  the  Government  is  being  widely  discussed  and  favorably  received.  The  New 
York  Herald  deserves  the  credit  of  starting  the  movement.  That  newspaper,  with  its 
accustomed  zeal,  is  feeling  the  public  pulse  on  the  subject  and  influencing  the  public 
mind. 

The  second  plan  is  a largely  commendable  one.  The  present  telegraph  service  is 
not  satisfactory.  Monopoly  too  largely  controls  it.  This  has  been  made  painfully 
evident  during  the  past  few  weeks.  The  striking  operators  and  the  stubborn  com-  , 
panics  have  blocked  public  trade  and  inconvenienced  the  people  in  a thousand  ways.  . 
If  the  Government  had  lines  of  its  own  the  strike  would  have  been  short  lived,  if  it  : 
had  occurred  at  all.  The  Western  Union  would  not  have  dared  permit  a strike  with  , 
the  Government  in  the  field  against  it. 

The  postal-telegraph  scheme  is  well  worth  consideration.  The  Herald  deserves 
credit  for  its  activity  in  the  matter. 


[From  the  Newburyport  Herald.] 

IT  WILL  BE  CONTROLLED  BY  THE  PEOPLE. 

The  Western  Union  has  pursued  a policy  which  has  made  free  competition  impossi- 
ble in  the  business,  and  the  question  is  whether  there  shall  be  a central  power  of 
which  Jay  Gould  is  the  head,  or  one  where  the  people  can  make  a change  at  will. 
Centralization  is  not  to  be  stopped  by  any  political  party,  but  it  is  a question  as  to 
whether  it  is  to  be  of  telegraphic  and  railroad  and  standard  oil  monopolists,  or  of  the 
Government,  controlled  by  the  people. 


i 


[From  the  Florida  Times-Union.] 

A SELF-SUSTAINING  GUARANTY  AND  SAFEGUARD. 

The  establishment  by  the  Government  of  a system  of  telegraph  lines  would  be  a 
guaranty  against  such  interruption  as  the  business  public  has  suffered  of  late,  and  a 
safeguard  against  a worse  one  which  may  come  when  the  present  manipulators  of  the. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


211 


telegraph  keys  have  been  inveigled  into  the  Telegraphers’  Brotherhood  and  induced 
to  go  “out.”  It  could  be  run  at  rates  n erely  self-sustaining,  and  thus,  while  forcing 
the  private  companies  to  adopt  reasonable  rates,  it  would  not  be  a burden  on  the 
Treasury.  At  the  terminal  and  important  points  the  present  system  of  letter  delivery 
could  be  utilized,  thus  guarantying  prompt  delivery  of  dispatches.  It  would  in 
reality,  as  one  of  our  contemporaries  has  expressed  it,  be  a system  of  electric  letters 
added  to  our  present  system  of  letters  by  pen  and  pencil.  Its  adoption  is  sure  to 
come. 

[From  the  Galveston  News.] 

THE  ENTIRE  BUSINESS  WILL  BE  IMPROVED. 

Private  competition  could  hardly  fail  to  promote  accuracy  and  quickness  of  trans- 
mission and  delivery  and  a high  degree  of  general  efficiency  in  the  Government  branch 
of  telegraph  service.  Thus  the  two  systems  would  act  and  react  with  checks  and 
stimulants  for  the  improvement  of  each.  There  is  a strictly  analogous  case  to  support 
the  conclusion  that  private  telegraphy  and  Government  telegraphy  may  exist  side  by 
side  and  each  succeed  after  its  fashion.  The  express  companies  were  not  driven  out 
of  business  when  the  Post-Office  Department  undertook  a few  years  ago  to  transmit 
merchandise  parcels  at  cheap  rates.  The  private  express  business  was  really  improved 
and  largely  expanded,  while  its  charges  were  moderated. 

[From  the  New  York  Evening  Post.] 

THE  ONLY  REMEDY  FOR  EXISTING  GRIEVANCES. 

This  last  affair  has  undoubtedly  had  the  effect  of  greatly  stimulating  the  demand 
for  Government  competition.  That  this  will  come  before  long  we  have  not  the  slight- 
est doubt.  A larger  and  larger  number  of  people  are  beginning  to  see  that  Govern- 
ment competition  is  the  only  one  which  will  ever  prove  effective  against  the  Western 
Union,  and  the  only  remedy  for  whatever  inconveniences  arise  from  having  the  teleg- 
raphy of  the  country  in  the  hands  of  one  corporation.  The  Western  Union  has  found 
so  little  difficulty  for  many  years  in  destroying  competition  by  buying  out  competitors 
that  the  creation  of  rival  companies  for  the  express  purpose  of  being  sold  out  to  it, 
after  a period  of  fictitious  activity  and  furious  denunciation  of  monopolies,  has  long 
been  a favorite  device  of  tricky  financiers.  In  fact,  the  corporation  is  largely  made 
up  of  these  purchased  champions  of  popular  rights.  What  we  need  now  is  a Govern- 
ment telegraph,  in  connection  with  the  post-office,  to  compete  with  the  commercial 
corporations. 

[From  the  Brooklyn  Union.) 

GOVERNMENT  INTERVENTION  A NECESSITY. 

The  representatives  of  neither  will  be  able  to  dodge  the  issue  which  the  telegra- 
phers’ strike  has  forced  on  the  attention  of  the  people — the  necessity  for  Government 
intervention  in  a sphere  which  public  convenience  and  public  protection  alike  make 
it  desirable  that  it  should  occupy.  Competition  has  been  tried  and  found  wanting. 
State  legislation  is  impotent  to  prevent  the  use  of  public  franchises  for  private  ends, 
and  municipal  ordinances,  while  available  for  “striking”  purposes,  are  entirely  use- 
less as  a protection  to  the  public. 


[From  the  Sacramento  Record  Union.] 

IT  WILL  COUNTERACT  EXISTING  DANGERS. 

That  a system  of  postal-telegraph  lines  is  one  of  the  early  probabilities  is  the  belief 
of  very  many  earnest  friends  of  postal  telegraphy  in  the  United  States.  With  the 
news  avenues — commercial  and  financial  and  journalistic — in  its  control,  and  the  pri- 
vate correspondence  of  the  people  open  to  its  inspection,  the  private-telegraph  com- 
pany holds  the  commerce  of  the  country  at  its  will  and  the  people  at  its  mercy. 
While  it  may  be  said  the  trust  in  the  past  has  not  been  violated,  there  is  no  positive 
evidence  of  that  being  true;  but  we  do  know  that  the  possibility  exists  of  a private 
corporation  of  news  transmission  using  its  powers  to  punish  enemies,  reward  friends, 
and  gain  information  of  exceeding  financial  value  to  it. 


212 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[From  the  Galveston  Xews.J 
UNFORTUNATE  IN  ARGUMENTS. 

The  New  York  World  is  unfortunate  in  arguments  to  eornbat  the  proposition  of  a ■ 
Government  telegraph  service  as  a safeguard  equally  against  mischiefs  of  strikes  and 
monopolies.  It  first  protested  against  the  proposition  on  the  gratuitous  assumption 
that  it  meant  simply  the  transfer  of  the  whole  telegraph  business  from  chartered 
monopoly  to  Government  monopoly.  The  leading  advocates  of  the  proposition  hav- 
ing signified  their  desire  to  leave  the  telegraph  field  open  to  private  enterprise  and  ■ 
private  competition,  the  Vforld  is  still  unsatisfied  and  insists  that  a Government  tele- 
graph service  as  an  extension  of  the  present  postal  system  could  offer  no  possible 
benefits  to  offset  in  any  degree  its  great  and  certain  evils.  * * * The  World  pro- 
fesses to  be  a Democratic  paper  of  a thoroughgoing  sort,  but  on  this  postal-telegraph 
question  it  has  more  Republican  than  Democratic  papers  to  keep  it  company.  The  i 
New  Orleans  States  is  among  a large  and  imposing  numberof  Democratic  papers  which  ; 
are  widely  at  variance  with  it.  The  States  holds  the  exact  reverse  of  the  World’s  ^ 
opinion. 

The  World,  however,  has  a remedy  of  its  own  to  propose.  “The  true  remedy  for 
abuses  of  monopoly  in  the  telegraph  as  in  every  other  business  is  in  competition,”  • 
says  the  World.  And  thus  it  develops  its  plan  for  applying  the  remedy  : 

“ In  order  to  encourage  competition  we  need  laws  prohibiting  the  consolidation  of 
parallel  lines  of  telegraph  or  the  increase  of  capital  stock  except  under  stringent  re- 
strictions. In  Missouri  a provision  in  the  State  constitution  distinctly  prohibits  not 
only  the  consolidation,  but  even  the  pooling  of  parallel  railroads,  and  does  not  allow 
parallel  lines  to  be  managed  by  the  same  directors.  Other  States  by  law  prohibit  the 
consolidation  of  parallel  railroads  or  telegraph  lines.” 

The  World  must  be  very  poorly  informed  or  it  would  know  that  the  constitutioual  - 
provisions  or  statutory  laws  in  Missouri,  Texas,  and  other  States  against  the  consoli- 
dation of  parallel  and  competing  railroads  have  been  practically  ineffectual.  Cor-  » 
porations  and  syndicates  have  found  a way  to  overcome  or  circumvent  all  legal  diffi-  , 
culties,  and  to  consolidate  and  pool  to  any  extent  desired  by  interested  and  contract- 
ing parties.  \ 

[From  the  Kansas  City  Times.  ] 

THE  TELEGRAPH  MONOPOLY. 

Two  ways  to  avoid  the  evils  of  telegraph  ^^onopoly  have  been  suggested.  The  first 
is  the  ownership  of  the  telegraph  lines  by  the  Government.  The  proposition  to  that  ^ 
effect  has  more  than  a newspaper  advocacy.  It  was  gravely  maintained  in  an  official  f 
report  of  the  Post-Office  Department,  and  has  in  its  favor  distinguished  official  an-  i 
thority.  f 

The  late  consolidation  of  telegraph  lines  and  practical  monopoly^  of  the  telegraph  ^ 
business  by  one  company  has  given  new  vitality  to  the  question,  and  another  plan  f 
has  been  proposed — to  wit,  national  legislation  prohibiting  the  consolidation  ofparal- 
lei  and  competing  telegraph  lines.  The  statute  of  Missouri,  applying  the  principle  to  ^ 
railroads,  has  been  quoted  in  favor  of  the  plan,  and  its  zealous  advocacy  urged,  as  if  ; 
the  Missouri  idea  had  worked  like  a charm. 

Our  complimentary  contemporaries  of  the  East  are  unfortunate  in  their  illustra- 
tions, however.  Missouri  has  the  statute,  but  it  is  of  no  practical  utility.  It  has 
been  set  at  naught  by  the  railway  companies  of  the  State.  Since  its  enactment  whole- 
sale consolidations  of  parallel  and  competing  lines  of  railroad  have  been  effected  with 
impunity.  In  one  instance  a line  couipetiug  with  the  Missouri  Pacific,  built  witli 
township  subscriptions  for  the  express  purpose  of  competition,  was  bought  by  Jay 
Gould,  consolidated,  and  then  destroyed.  In  another  instance  two  great  lines  travers- 
ing the  State  from  east  to  west  were  seized  by  the  same  hand  and  placed  under  the 
same  management.  The  practice  has  become  so  common  in  Missouri  as  scarcely  to 
create  public  concern  or  to  elicit  newspaper  disapprobation.  Why  this  singular 
ajiathy  ? inquire  the  advocates  of  statutory  inhibition.  The  answer  to  the  question 
introduces  us  to  the  infirmities  of  the  the  plan  proposed. 

The  law  is  not  executed.  The  offi<;ers  charged  with  its  execution  place  themselves 
umh'r  obligation  to  the  railroad  companies  by  accepting  their  favors  and  have  no 
heart  for  the  wurk.  They  are  often  weak  men,  and  shrink  from  confronting  in  the 
courts  the  able  attorneys  of  the  railroad  companies.  They  are  generally  politicians,  ‘ 
and  fear  to  antagonize  the  unified  power  concentrated  in  the  management  of  great  J. 
corporations. 

The  press  also  is  too  often  placated  with  the  “ courtesies  ” extended,  or  discouraged 
by  the  futility  of  its  protests,  and  the  entire  body  politic  is  paralyzed  in  the  presence^ 
of  the  power  that  reiiresents  $1100,000,000  in  the  State  and  multiplied  millions  in  other  \ 
Slates.  Would  the  general  movement  be  subject  to  the  influences  that  nullify  the  w 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  EACILITIES. 


213 


laws  of  the  States  ? Would  the  Congress  enact  and  the  national  authorities  execute 
the  prohibitory  law  more  faithfully  than  the  States?  Will  the  national  officials  that 
accept  the  favmrs,  covet  the  comforts,  anti  fear  the  power  of  the  corporations  he  any 
more  eager  to  exact  the  penalties  of  the  laws  than  the  officials  of  the  States?  We 
most  respectfully  solicit  the  opinion  of  the  Eastern  press  on  the  questions  propounded. 

■*  IFrom  the  San  Francisco  Post.] 

A GUARANTY  OF  SECRECY. 

There  are  patents  within  reach  of  the  Government  of  the  United  States  which  the 
Western  Union  does  not  control  that  would  reduce  the  cost  of  telegraphy  to  a point 
w'hich  would  in  great  measure  supersede  the  expensive  postal  system  for  all  pur- 
poses, and  entirely  so  for  commercial  uses.  For  example,  it  is  possible  to  transmit  a 
fac-simile  message  almost  any  distance  for  a few  cents  and  make  a profit,  a transcript 
of  which  over  the  Western  Union  wires  would  cost  as  many  dollars.  Furthermore, 
there  would  he  a guaranty  of  secrecy  under  a postal-telegraph  system,  which  is 
only  measurahly  true  at  present.  For  these  and  other  reasons^that  might  he  adduced 
a postal-telegraph  system  should  he  estahlished,  and  if  the  telegraph  operators’ strike 
does  nothing  more  than  compel  Congressional  action  in  this  direction  it  will  not  have 
been  in  vain. 


[From  the  Memphis  Appeal.] 


TELEGRAPH  REFORM. 

The  question  of  a telegraph  service  in  connection  with  the  post  office  is  widely  dis- 
cussed by  the  public  press,  and  the  outcome  of  the  discussion  appears  to  he  as  follows  : 
The  Government  not  to  buy  the  present  private  lines,  hut  must  construct  its  own. 
It  has  the  same  right  to  build  and  operate  as  corporations  have.  The  GoYcrnment 
lines  should  not  be  a monopoly  ; competition  would  check  abuses  on  the  part  of  the 
Government  and  of  the  cor])orations.  The  Western  Union  is  a monopoly  injurious  to 
the  public  interest  and  to  commerce.  The  telegraph  lines  can  be  largely  extended 
with  advantage,  and  quick  postal  communication  is  wanted  to  take  the  place  of  slow 
mails.  The  telegraph  should  be  the  po  r man’s  mail  as  well  as  the  rich  one’s.  The 
l>ostage  authorities  agree  that  there  would  be  no  important  difficulty  about  adding  a 
telegraph  service,  the  letter  carriers  delivering  the  telegrams.  The  cost  will  not  be 
great  and  the  service  will  pay  its  own  expenses,  while  rates  will  be  lower.  The  neces- 
sary service  will  be  appointed,  not  by  the  politicians,  but  under  the  civil-service  rules. 
The  opinion  is  general  that  at  its  next  session  Congress  must  take  some  step  toward 
checking  telegraphic  monopoly  and  for  the  protection  and  furtherance  of  general 
quick  communication  among  the  people. 


[From  the  Rochester  Union  and  Advertiser.] 

THE  HEAD  OF  THE  MONOPOLY. 

The  same  Jay  Gould,  who  acknowledged  under  oath,  in  1873,  before  a legislative 
investigation  committee,  that  he  contributed  money  to  control  legislation  in  favor  of 
the  Erie  Railroad  in  four  States,  the  angregatu  amount  used  for  that  purpose  being 
proven  to  exceed  $1,000,000,  is  still  unwhipt  of  justice  and  free  to  ply  his  vocation  as 
the  head  and  front  ot  the  Western  Union  monopoly. 

[From  the  Chicago  Herald.] 

HEAVY  BLOW  TO  THE  WESTERN  UNION. 

Mr.  Mackay’s  interest  in  the  postal  telegraph  means  that  he  will  take  an  active  part 
in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  compan3\  He  always  does  that.  He  will  prove  the 
wheel  horse  in  details  ; the  quiet  conservative  night  and  day  worker  that  he  used  to 
be  when  he  was  sinking  shaft,  driving  drifts,  openii.g  levels,  and  turning  out  bul- 
lion at  the  rate  of  $3,000,000  a month.  If  he  makes  up  his  mind  that  the  Western 
Union  lines  are  to  be  paralleled  they  will  be,  for  he  can  swing  $10,000,000  of  his  own 
to  accomplish  it.  We  look  upon  tlie  securing  of  Mr.  Mackay’s  wealth  and  influence 
in  this  enterprise  as  the  heaviest  blow  the  Western  Union  has  yet  had. 


214 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[From  the  Austin  (Texas)  Statesman.) 


WHOLESOME  COMPETITION  A NECESSITY. 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  unconsciously  done  more  to  develop 
seutiment  in  behalf  of  a Government  telegraph  system  than  all  other  agencies  com- 
bined. One  thing  is  settled  iu  tbe  public  mind,  and  that  is  that  there  must  be  whole- 
some telegraph  competition  of  some  sort. 

[From  the  Washington  Sunday  Herald.) 


A TEST  OP  PRACTICAL  STATESMANSHIP. 

There  is  no  need  to  spend  space  in  discussing  the  question.  This  is  just  one  of  those 
tests  of  wise  and  practical  statesmanship  that  constantly  arise  and  demand  to  be 
dealt  with.  A country  that  leaves  its  most  vital  means  of  intercommunication,  the 
very  nerve  of  thought,  in  the  grasp  of  a Jay  Gould,  deserves  to  have  a strike  every 
week  that  will  paralyze  correspondence,  railway  traffic,  governmental  operations, 
and  everything  else,  until  it  learns  sense  in  the  school  of  experience.  Tbe  next  Con- 
gress will  find  no  more  popular  work  laid  ready  to  its  hands  than  the  blending  of  our 
present  grand  postal  system  and  its  proposed  electrical  extension  into  one  harmon- 
ious whole. 


[From  the  New  Haven  News.) 

NO  PURCHASE  OF  EXISTING  LINES. 

No  proposition  to  buy  the  existing  lines  of  the  Western  Union  will  be  tolerated  by 
the  people.  They  do  not  desire  to  substitute  a new  monopoly  for  the  old  one.  They 
want  only  to  insure  a permanent  competition  which  will  place  them  above  the  mercy 
of  a robber  corporation,  but  at  the  same  time  will  not  restrict  them  to  the  exclusive 
use  of  the  Government  accommodations.  The  telegraph  monoply  is  doomed. 

[From  the  Boston  Globe.  1 
THE  POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  MUST  COME. 

The  talk  about  a postal  telegraph  continues  fast  and  furious.  And,  strange  to  say, 
the  sentiment  of  the  different  sections  of  the  country,  as  represented  by  the  press,  is 
quite  unanimous,  not  only  on  the  main  question  of  the  desirability  of  Government 
telegraphy,  but  also  on  the  kindred  questions  of  methods  and  means.  There  are  a 
few  objectors  here  and  there,  bnt  it  is  seldom  that  the  press  of  the  country  has  been 
so  nearly  united  upon  any  question  of  public  importance  as  it  is  upon  this. 

The  main  features  of  a government  system,  as  they  are  almost  unanimously  advo- 
cated by  the  press  of  the  country,  are  that  the  Government  shall  not  buy  the  Western 
Union  lines,  but  shall  construct  lines  of  its  own  ; that  it  shall  not  have  a monopoly 
of  the  business,  but  shall  simply  be  a competitor,  and  by  its  low  rates  compel  the 
lines  of  private  companies  to  reduce  their  prices,  and  that  the  system  shall  be  made 
supplementary  to  the  present  postal  facilities. 

[From  tbe  Indiana polie  Times.] 

AN  UNHOLY  ALLIANCE. 

The  postal-telegraph  idea  is  fast  seizing  hold  upon  the  people.  But  few  papers 
oppose  it,  and  they  are  almost  exclusively  confined  to  those  who  are  connected  with 
the  Associated  Press,  the  twin  sister  of  the  Western  Union.  In  fact,  the  two  have 
been  living  in  unholy  wedlock  for  years,  and  it  is  not  surprising  to  hear  the  one  defend 
the  other.  The  people  would  be  better  served  by  having  au  independent  Government 
line.  The  operation  of  a private  company  would  make  the  Government  more  careful, 
while  the  Government  being  in  the  field  would  prevent  extortionate  rates.  The 
opposition  between  the  Government  and  the  express  companies  in  the  transportation 
of  small  packages  has  worked  for  the  good  of  the  people.  So  it  would  be  in  the  matter 
of  telegraphy. 

[From  the  Troy  Telegram.] 

GOVERNMENT  SHOULD  CONTROL  THE  TELEGRAPH. 

If  the  telegraph  is  a valuable  adjunct  to  the  postal  system  let  it  be  a part  of  it  and 
under  Government  control,  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  people. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


215 


[From  the  Albany  Express.] 

DANGER  OP  THE  MONOPOLY. 

The  fact  is  that  the  public  are  now  at  the  mercy  of  a monopoly,  and  that  there  is 
virtually  no  private  competition  in  telegraphy  because  the  Western  Union  has  been 
able  to  maintain  an  excessive  rate  ol  charges  by  its  repeated  consolidations  with  com- 
peting lines.  This  policy  has  made  Jay  Gould  the  absolute  controller  of  a very  large 
proportion  of  the  correspondence  of  both  the  Government  and  of  the  people.  It  is 
easy  to  conceive  of  situations  in  which  the  interests  of  such  a capitalist  and  speculator 
might  induce  him  to  take  advantage  of  exclusive  knowledge,  obtained  by  virtue  of 
his  ownership  of  the  telegraph,  in  regard  to  fiscal  operations  of  the  Government,  or 
other  wants  affecting  the  value  of  stocks.  In  short,  the  establishment  ot  a postal 
telegraph  by  the  Government  would  probably  act  as  a safeguard  against  unreasonable 
charges  by  a corporation  of  monopolists  in  the  same  way  that  the  canals  of  this  State 
operate  to  lessen  the  charges  of  the  railroads  for  transporting  freight. 

[From  the  Philadelphia  Press.] 

ENCOURAGING  INDICATIONS. 

Mr.  Mackay  is  supposed  to  be  exceedingly  rich,  and  his  buying  into  the  postal-tele- 
graph concern  has  boomed  its  shares  and  depressed  those  of  its  mighty  rival.  If  the 
iNevada  mines  had  ceased  to  pay  on  account  of  Mr.  Mackay’s  investment  in  them  there 
would  be  some  ground  for  viewing  his  association  as  damaging  to  an  enterprise,  blit 
it  is  hardly  fair  to  hold  him  responsible  for  the  exhaustion  of  the  pay  rock  in  the 
Cou)stock  lode.  If  he  still  has  a considerable  portion  of  the  magnificent  dividends 
his  mines  yielded  him  in  their  palmy  days,  and  is  willing  now  to  invest  what  is  neces- 
sary of  them  to  build  up  a strong  rival  to  the  Western  Union,  there  is  abundant  rea- 
son why  the  shares  of  that  overgrown  monopoly  should  take  a tumble. 

[From  the  Providence  Press.] 

ANYTHING  TO  BEAT  MONOPOLY. 

If  John  W.  Mackay  and  Senator  Fair,  of  Nevada,  should  decide  to  give  the  new 
postal-telegraph  company  all  the  financial  backing  it  needs,  it  will  probably  extend 
its  wires  all  over  the  country,  and  place  itself  entirely  above  all  influences  of  the 
Western  Union  Company.  Almost  anything  to  break  down  the  present  monopoly 
would  be  welcomed  by  the  majority  of  people. 

[From  the  Chicago  Press.] 

SHOULD  BE  WIPED  OUT. 

The  Western  Union  Telegraph  Company  has  made  competition  impossible.  It  is 
such  a gigantic  and  far-reaching  monopoly  that  it  has  absolute  control  over  the  tele- 
graph business  of  this  whole  country.  Hence  its  ability  to  impose  upon  the  people, 
and  oppress  its  employes.  The  Government  alone  can  wipe  it  out,  and  this  it  should 
do,  in  the  face  of  recent  developments,  without  the  slightest  compunction  of  con- 
science and  in  the  quickest  time  possible.  A postal  telegraph  is  what  the  people 
want,  as  an  adjunct  to  the  Post-Office  Department,  to  be  conducted  under  a similar 
system. 

[From  the  Philadelphia  Times.  1 
WHAT  THE  PEOPLE  WOULD  GAIN. 

Many  of  the  most  widely  read  and  influential  public  journals  have,  for  the  first 
time,  arrayed  themselves  on  the  side  of  Government  telegraphy,  and  the  issue  prom- 
ises to  be  a vital  one  in  the  next  Congress.  If  the  Western  Union  can  pay  dividends 
on  nearly  $100,000,000  by  sending  35,000,000  dispatches  in  a year,  what  could  the 
Government  do  with  a system  costing  probably  one-tenth  of  the  Western  Union 
capital,  with  no  buildings,  dividends,  or  offices  to  supply?  And  what  would  the 
people  gain  by  the  reduction  of  telegraphy  to  its  legitimate  cost,  as  has  been  done  with 
the  mails? 


216 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[From  the  San  Francisco  Examiner.] 

ADVANTAGES  OP  COMPETITION  WANTED. 

The  Government  is  restrained  by  no  moral  obligation  not  to  compete  with  a private 
company.  A business  enterprise  is  as  open  to  the  Government  as  to  an  individual. 
But  in  this  instance  the  postal  telegraph  would  be  instituted  by  the  Government  at 
the  suggestion  of  the  people,  and  for  their  use,  on  the  same  principle  precisely  that 
mail  facilities  exist.  The  public  system  would  operate  as  a check  in  the  way  of  ex- 
cessive charges  in  the  private  enterprise,  and  as  competition  would  necessarily  spring 
up  the  public  would  get  the  benefit  of  it.  The  Examiner  is  by  no  means  in  favor  of 
a monopoly  ot  the  telegraph  system  by  the  Government.  We  believe  that  such  a 
condition  of  affairs  would  lead  to  a multitude  of  evils,  not  the  least  of  which  would 
be  a centralization  of  power  which  is  too  great  already.  The  purpose  in  view  is  to 
supply  the  people  with  cheap  and  reliable  telegraph  facilities.  A public  monopoly 
would  be  as  fatal  to  this  purpose  as  a private  monopoly.  What  is  wanted  is  the  com- 
peting advantages  which  wdll  result  from  x>ermanent  independent  telegraphic  facili- 
ties. 

[From  the  Atlana  Constitution.] 

IMPORTANCE  OF  THE  PROPOSED  SYSTEM. 

The  Sun  says  the  Government  might  as  well  be  expected  to  engage  in  the  express 
business  as  to  establish  a postal  telegraph.  The  illustration  is  not  an  apt  one.  If  the 
postal  service  of  the  country  were  as  perfect  as  private  enterprise  has  made  the  ex- 
press companies  the  Government  would  do  a large  and  growing  share  of  express  busi- 
ness through  the  mails.  Even  as  matters  stand  hundreds  and  thousands  of  valuable 
packages  are  carried  through  the  mails,  for  while  the  service  is  not  perfect  it  is  rea- 
sonably sure.  Not  a day  passes  that  the  Government  does  not  compete  with  the  ex- 
press companies.  The  truth  is  a Government  postal  telegraph  w’^ould  not  only  increase 
the  efficiency  of  the  postal  service,  but  woulu  effectually  dispose  of  one  of  the  most 
dangerous  monopolies  the  country  has  ever  seen.  But  if  there  are  any  real  arguments 
against  a Government  postal  telegraph,  we  should  like  to  see  them.  If  ic  is  really  a 
movement  in  the  direction  of  centralization,  we  should  like  to  have  it  explained. 

[From  the  New  Bedford  Mercury.] 


A CHANCE  FOR  DEMOCRATIC  LEADERS. 

If  the  Democratic  leaders  in  Congress  desire  to  make  their  party  popular  they  have 
one  of  the  best  opportunities  that  ever  fell  to  their  lot.  The  party’s  best  move  now 
will  be  to  take  up  the  idea  of  a Government  postal  telegraph  and  to  carry  it  straight 
through  Congress  at  the  very  first  opportunity.  The  people  are  all  ready  for  it. 
They  would  look  upon  any  reasonable  measure  to  accomplish  this  end  with  approval. 
The  party  which  succeeds  in  putting  the  idea  into  actual  practice  can  not  fail  to  help 
itself  thereby. 

[From  the  Erie  Dispatch.] 

JUST  WHAT  IS  NEEDED. 

A way  out  of  the  present  telegraphic  difficulty  would  seem  to  be  the  establishment 
of  a postal-telegraph  system  in  connection  w'ith  the  mail  service  over  which  impor- 
tant mail  matter  could  be  transmitted  and  at  a uniformly  low  tariff.  By  the  duplex 
and  quadruplex  systems — making  one  wire  do  in  the  place  of  twm  or  four,  according  to 
the  kind  of  instrument  used  -a  moderate  number  of  lines  would  be  sufficient  to  meet 
all  probable  requirements.  With  the  lever  of  competition,  the  Government  would 
be  able  to  prevent  extortionate  rates,  compel  efficient  service,  and  provide  against 
the  business  of  the  country  being  left  at  the  mercy  of  a monopoly  of  its  dissatisfied 
operators.  At  the  same  time  it  would  not  shut  out  private  enterprise  or  private 
capital. 

[From  the  Mobile  Register.] 

SAFEGUARD  AGAINST  MONOPOLIES. 

There  is  less  danger  from  the  telegraph  in  the  hands  of  the  Government  than  in 
private  hands.  The  Government  would  have  no  object  in  misusing  it.  If  they  should 
attempt  to  turn  its  power  to  private  and  partisan  ends  the  remedy  would  be  with 
the  people.  But  when  Gould  and  Vanderbilt  use  this  great  power  to  advance  the 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


217 


riches  of  themselves  and  friends  or  to  destroy  the  power  of  a rival  the  people  have 
no  remedy  against  such  tyranny.  In  the  midst  of  the  cotton  season  a single  tick  of 
this  private  company,  instigated  hy  the  money  kings  of  New  York,  might  sweep  away 
in  an  hour  the.  hard-earned  means  of  business  men  all  over  the  South. 

[From  the  New  Haven  Palladium.] 

A HIGHLY  POPULAR  MOVEMENT. 

The  movement  in  snpport  of  a Government  telegraph  as  a supplement  to  the  postal 
system  has  already  assumed  proportions  which  practically  assures  its  success,  pro- 
vided its  friends  relax  none  of  their  efforts  in  its  behalf.  Many  of  the  leading  news- 
papers of  the  country  have  come  out  in  open  advocacy  of  the  project,  while  othere  are 
evidently  only  waiting  until  they  can  assure  themselves  positively  of  the  popular 
desire  concerning  the  matter  to  go  with  the  tide.  One  of  the  most  noteworthy  of 
recent  additions  to  the  ranks  of  the  newspaper  advocates  of  postal  telegraphy  is  Har- 
l)eFs  Weekly,  which  discusses  the  subject  in  a thoughtful  way  in  its  current  issue. 

[From  Harper’s  Weekly.] 

ONLY  A QUESTION  OP  EXPEDIENCY. 

The  Government  conducts  the  post-office,  which  is  simply  ‘^business,”  and  a tele- 
graph supplement  to  the  post-office  is  only  a question  ot  expediency.  Such  inter- 
ruptions as  those  arising  from  the  strike  produce  not  only  incalculable  inconven- 
ience, bnt  loss,  and  it  is  only  for  the  people  to  decide  whether  they  shall  be  tolerated. 
They  will  be  always  possible  and  imminent  under  the  existing  conditions  of  vast 
counter-organizations  of  labor  and  capital.  They  will  become  more  probable  as  in- 
telligent labor  becomes  more  selfishly  grasping.  But  the  primary  source  of  the  situ- 
ation is  monopoly.  To  destroy  the  monopoly  is  of  course  to  relieve  the  situation. 
The  sneer  that  it  is  not  the  business  of  a Government  to  go  into  business  is  only  silly, 
because  the  Government  has  gone  into  business.  In  the  post-office  it  has  often  de- 
liberately gone  into  a losing  business,  because  the  convenience  and  prosperity  of  the 
people  are  inore  important  than  the  cost  of  the  service  to  the  Treasury.  A general 
-Strike  of  the  telegraphs  and  railways  would  in  a very  short  time  cost  the  Government 
and  country  very  much  more  than  the  constrnction  of  a telegraph.  The  operation  of 
such  a work  should  of  course  be  placed  beyond  the  interference  of  trading  politicians. 
But  it  is  clear  that  the  expediency  of  postal  telegraphy  has  become  a pressing  and 
important  question. 

[New  Haven  Palladium.] 

THE  ONLY  SECURITY  FOR  COMPETITION. 

National  legislation  forbidding  the  consolidation  of  parallel  lines  of  telegraph  and 
the  watering  of  capital  stock  is  suggested  by  those  who  oppose  a Government  tele- 
graph. The  ineffectiveness  of  legislation  to  prevent  the  consolidation  of  competing 
railroaus  has  too  often  been  illustrated  to  leave  any  ground  for  expecting  lasting  re- 
lief from  this  source.  As  in  the  past  so  in  the  future  will  corporations  and  syndicates 
find  a way  to  circumvent. the  law.  The  only  hope  is  in  a competition  that  can  neither 
be  bought  off  nor  consolidated  out  of  existence.  The  Government  can  alone  insure 
such  competition  by  constructing  a postal  telegraph,  or,  in  other  words,  by  supple- 
menting its  present  postal  system  with  facilities  for  electric  communication. 

[Lockport  Uuion.] 

CONFIDENCE  IN  CONGRESSMEN. 

The  relation  of  our  legislators  and  Representatives  in  Congress  to  corporate  influ- 
ence will  henceforth  be  closely  scrutinized,  and  no  lawmaker  who  indorses  a policy 
that  favors  the  extortion  of  dividends  from  the  people  upon  the  fiction  of  watered 
stocks  can  hope  for  their  confidence  and  approval. 

[Waterbary  American.] 

THE  PLANT  WILL  BE  CHEAP. 

It  is  comforting  to  bear  in  mind  that  competent  witnesses  agree  that  the  Govern- 
.ment  can  duplicate  the  telegraph  plant  of  the  country  for  about  $25,000,000 ; that  a 
great  many  influential  public  men  are  in  favor  of  the  Government  going  into  the 
telegraph  business,  and  that  the  number  is  increasing  every  day  under  the  education 
which  Western  Uuion  is  unwittingly  giving. 


218 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


[Detroit  Free  Press.] 

THE  MONOPOLY  WILL  FIGHT. 

What  the  company  would  probably  do  if  there  were  any  real  danger  of  a Govern- 
ment telegraph  would  be  to  combat  the  movement  in  Congress.  And  if  we  can  judge 
anything  by  the  success  which  wealthy  monopolies  have  had  in  the  past  in  securing 
or  defeating  legislation  desired  or  objected  to  the  company  would  succeed. 

[Kochester  Herald.] 

NO  ARGUMENT  AGAINST  IT. 

The  Morning  Herald  has  always  said  that  there  could  be  no  legitimate  and  effective 
argument  against  a postal  telegraph  that  was  not  equally  effective  against  the  post- 
oJBfice  system  of  the  country.  ^ business  of  the  American  Government  is 

exceptionally  well  managed,  notwithstanding  the  everlasting  carping  of  political 
soreheads  and  the  hobby  riders  who  perpetually  affect  and  express  a fear  of  centrali- 
zation. The  tide  is  moving  strongly  in  favor  of  a postal-telegraph  system,  and  after 
it  has  once  been  tried  all  of  the  chronic  grumblers  will  not  only  be  satisfied,  but  will 
wonder  why  it  was  not  long  before  adopted. 

[Oakland  Transcript.] 

IT  WILL  BE  BENEFICIAL. 

The  recent  interruption  of  public  business  in  consequence  of  the  telegrapher’s  strike 
has  awakened  renewed  interest,  but  the  azoic  men  are  abroad  suggesting  all  kinds 
of  difficulties  and  obstructive  barriers  to  a successful  development  of  the  scheme  in 
this  country  ; but  all  these  ugly  mountains  have  been  crossed  in  other  lands  where 
the  love  of  law,  equity,  and  justice  is  as  strong  as  here.  Within  a few  days  past, 
while  the  obstructionists  were  busy  trying  to  persuade  the  people  that  England  had 
a big  elephant  on  hand,  she  has  been  reducing  telegraph  rates  to  a minimum.  It  is 
no  experiment.  The  scheme  has  been  thoroughly  tried  and  proved  a success.  If  a 
postal  telegraph  is  a big  thing  in  England,  is  found  to  save  time  and  expense  where 
railroads  can  carry  the  mail  from  one  border  to  the  other  in  a few  hours,  how  much 
more  beneficial  in  a country  so  vast  as  ours,  where  the  best  locomotive  in  the  world' 
could  not  pass  from  one  extreme  to  the  other  in  less  time  than  a week. 

[San  Francisco  Post.] 

DESTINED  TO  BE  A RIVAL. 

A dispatch  from  New  York  states  that  John  W.  Mackay  has  become  a large  stock- 
holder in  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company  and  been  elected  president  of  the  company. 
The  Postal  Telegraph  Company  is  so  named  because  it  is  its  intention  to  do  business 
after  post-office  methods — that  is,  it  will  issue  stamps  of  certain  denominations  to  be 
affixed  to  dispatches.  It  is  a strong  concern  and  possesses  a system  which  enables  it 
to  transmit  messages  much  more  rapidly  and  cheaply  than  can  be  done  by  the  meth- 
ods used  by  the  other  telegraph  companies.  It  owns  the  patent  for  the  compound 
wire,  the  Gray  multiplex,  and  the  Leggo  automatic.  It  can  send  as  many  as  nine  mes- 
sages at  one  time  each  way  over  a single  wire.  The  compound  wire  possesses  many 
advantages  over  ordinary  wire,  and  by  the  automatic  facsimile  messages  can  be  trans- 
mitted. It  is  destined  in  time  to  be  a great  rival  to  the  Western  Union,  and  its  stock 
is  in  such  shape  that  it  can  not  be  sold  out  to  that  or  auy  other  company. 

[Adrian  (Mich.)  Times.] 

EXPECTED  BY  THE  COUNTRY. 

A trade  assembly  in  Chicago  a few  nights  ago  passed  this  resolution  : 

Resolved,  That  we  demand  of  the  American  Congress  the  establishment  of  a postal- 
telegraph  system  on  a self-supporting  basis,  that  the  business  men  may  transact  their 
business  through  a rapid  system  of  communication  at  an  expense  founded  on  the  act- 
ual cost  of  conducting  the  system,  and  not  be  subject  to  delay  by  strikes  or  be  dis- 
criminated against  by  unscrupulous  capitalists. 

The  fact  is,  the  postal-telegraph  system  is  soon  to  come,  and  the  political  parties 
will  not  long  wait  to  commit  themselves  in  favor  of  a measure  so  fast  becoming  popu- 
lar with  the  people. 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


219 


[New  Orleans  Times-Democrat.] 


THE  PROJECT  GROWING  STRONGER. 

The  agitation  in  favor  of  a.postal  telegraph  is  evidently  gaining  rather  than  losing 
strength.  There  seems  to  be  a general  feeling  throughout  the  country  that  something 
must  be  done  to  provide  Sbhonajide  opposition  to  the  Western  Union  comiiany. 

[New  York  Star.] 


LEGISLATURES  ASK  FOR  IT. 

There  is  a great  deal  of  significance  in  the  action  of  the  New  Hampshire  State  leg- 
islature which  has  just  passed  a joint  resolution  advocating  the  establishment  of  a 
postal  telegraph.  Since  the  recent  telegraph  strike  began  the  ablest  and  most  influ- 
ential newspapers  in  the  country  have  indorsed  the  position  long  ago  taken  by  the  Star 
on  this  subject.  They  indicate  the  unmistakable  drift  of  public  opinion.  Other  State 
legislatures  will  in  turn  cast  their  weight  into  the  scale  with  New  Hampshire,  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Congress  will  before  long  approve  the  project  and 
vote  the  necessary  funds  to  inaugurate  it. 

[Davenport  (Iowa)  Gazette.] 


OPPOSITION  PUERILE. 

It  has  taken  a long  and  weary  time  to  even  start  the  discussion  of  a postal-telegraph 
system  in  this  country,  but  now  that  it  is  started  the  fact  that  the  troubles  of  the  re- 
cent telegraph  companies  are  now  over  will  not  quiet  it  nor  diminish  the  favor  in  which 
it  is  held  by  a large  and  respectable  portion  of  the  public.  The  discussion  has  been 
the  means  of  closely  drawing  the  line  between  that  portion  of  the  public  press  which 
is  on  the  side  of  the  people  and  that  which  is  on  the  side  of  the  monopolists.  The 
atguments  which  have  been  adduced  against  a postal  telegraph  have  with  one  or  two 
exceptions  been  of  an  exceedingly  puerile  nature,  and  unworthy  of  serious  refutation. 

[PittHburgh  Dispatch.  | 

A MATTER  OF  NATIONAL  POLICY. 

The  Government  postal-telegraph  idea  is  clearly  one  that  will  not  down.  The  mat- 
ter has  been  brought  so  distinctly  to  the  people  through  the  medium  of  the  telegraph 
strike  that  the  question  of  policy  becomes  one  of  the  important  topics  of  the  time, 
and  its  consideration  in  Congress,  which  seems  almost  certain  to  take  place  at  the 
coming  session,  will  be  listened  for  eagerly  by  an  interested  people.  It  will  not  be 
surprising  if  the  discussions  of  the  coming  Congress  upon  this  point  occupy  many 
days  of  the  session,  and  it  is  certain  that  the  combination  of  capital  monopolizing  most 
of  the  telegraph  facilities  of  the  country  will  make  a bitter  fight.  There  are  two 
strong  sides  to  the  question  of  establishing  a Government  line  of  telegraph  wires. 
There  is  no  doubt  as  to  which  is  the  popular  side.  The  public  will  recognize  the  utter 
impossibility  of  conducting  a service  of  such  character  as  that  of  the  United  States 
mail  by  private  capital,  and  who  are  aware  of  the  firmness  and  solidity  of  the  national 
banking  system,  are  fully  prepared  to  believe  that  the  Government  can  successfully 
conduct  a telegraph  department  and  relieve  the  country  from  such  dangers  to  business 
as  have  lately  prevailed  and  threatened. 

[Richmond  Dispatch.] 

COMMERCE  DEMANDS  IT. 

The  chamber  of  commerce  of  Richmond  will  soon,  we  suppose,  pass  upon  the  ques- 
tion recently  submitted  to  it  by  the  chamber  of  commerce  of  New  York  City — namely, 
whether  the  former  chamber  of  commerce  agrees  with  the  latter  in  favoring  a national 
telegraph  system  to  be  owned  and  under  the  control  of  the  General  Government.  Since 
wahold  that  the  adoption  of  a national  system  of  telegraphs,  to  be  owned  and  con- 
trolled bj  the  Government,  is  unavoidable,  and  therefore  can  not  be  prevented  by  dis- 
cussion, it  is  not  necessary  from  our  point  of  view  to  discuss  the  subject  exhaustively. 
.We  appreciate  its  dangers,  foresee  its  benefits,  and  are  prepared  to  accept  the  latter 
and  to  try  to  avert  the  former. 


220 


POSTAL  TELEGPtAPH  FACILITIES. 


1 

i 


[Galveston  N’ews.] 


THE  RATE  TO  BE  UNIFORM. 

John  W.  Mackay  has  been  made  trustee  of  a majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Postal 
Telegraph  Company.  He  intends  to  have  a nuiform  rate  of  1 cent  per  word  to  all 
])oint8  reached,  and  to  sell  stamps  for  various  amounts,  which  can  be  affixed  to  any 
message. 

[Brooklyn  Union.] 

THE  RESULT  WOULD  BE  SATISFACTORY. 

The  proposition  that  Congress  should  pass  a law  prohibiting,  under  heavy  penalty, 
the  leasing  or  consolidation  by  one  telegraph  company  of  any  competing  line,  is 
not  likely  to  bring  about  such  satisfactory  results  as  would  the  establishment  of  a 
Government  telegraphic  system,  to  be  managed  under  the  regulations  of  the  civil- 
service  reform  act. 

[Buffalo  Express.] 

THE  RAPID  company’s  INJUSTICE. 

The  action  of  the  Rapid  Telegraph  Company  toward  its  operators  and  toward  the 
public  seems  to  have  been  worse  even  than  that  of  the  Western  Union,  and,  indeed, 
about  as  bud  as  could  be.  First  it  refused  an  increase  and  let  its  men  strike,  instead 
of  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  cut  into  the  big  company’s  business,  and 
establish  itself,  as  an  honest  new  line  would  have  done.  Next,  when  the  pressure 
of  business  that  could  not  be  forwarded  made  things  uncomfortable  for  Western 
Union,  the  Rapid  gave  in  to  the  men  and  resumed  business,  taking  the  precaution, 
however,  to  i)ut  up  its  theretofore  low  rates  io  the  Western  Union  standard.  The 
Rapid’s  opening  relieved  the  strain  on  Western  Union  and  helped  that  monopoly  to 
weather  the  strike.  Now  the  Rapid  announces  that  it  will  cut  wages  down  to  the 
old  standard  before  the  strike  ; but  it  does  not  say  a word  about  reducing  its  tariff  to 
the  old  rates.  It  looks  as  if  the  Rapid  had  been  playing  the  part  not  of  a rival,  but 
of  a tender  to  Western  Union. 


[Indianapolis  Times.] 


IT  WILL  BE  INDEPENDENT. 


A postal  telegraph  will  not  breed  conspirators  nor  corruptionists.  The  operators  * 
will  be  just  as  intelligent,  just  as  loyal,  under  Government  employ  as  under  Jay 
Gould,  and  far  more  happy,  independent,  and  contented.  \ 


[Virginia  City  Territorial  Enterprise,  j ] 


A NEW  ORDER  OF  THINGS. 


The  cable  company  which  is  to  operate  in  connection  with  the  Postal  Telegraph 
Company  may  prove  very  troublesome  to  the  old  companies  and  the  Western  Union. 
The  latter  company  has  guarantied  to  the  existing  cable  lines  5 per  cent,  for  ninety- 
nine  years  on  $65,500,000  of  stock.  The  new  company  has  contracted  $2,500,000  or 
the  immediate  laying  of  a cable,  and  another  at  the  same  price  in  eighteen  months. 
Besides  this  advantage  from  lower  capitalization,  the  couipauy  controls  patents  issued 
on  inventions  made  since  the  Western  Union  contracts  with  the  cable  companies  were 
made,  by  which  sixty  words  a minute,  instead  of  twenty  as  at  present,  can  be  sent 
over  the  cables.  The  tariff  proposed  is  25  cents  a word,  which  will  be  low  enough  to 
make  it  very  uncomfortable  indeed  for  the  established  order  of  things. 

[St.  John  (N.  B.)  Sun.] 

IT  IS  THOROUGHLY  POPULAR. 

Another  and  probably  more  popular  proposal  is  uot  that  the  Government  should 
take  sole  control  of  the  telegraph  service  of  the  country,  but  that  it  should  erect  and 
run  a competing  service  in  connection  with  the  postal  system,  and  thus  preserve  all 
the  advantages  of  competition  and  possibly  avoid  some  evils  which  might  be  insepa- 
rable from  an  entire  Government  control.  It  is  argued  that  in  this  way  a service 


POSTAL  TELEGRAPH  FACILITIES. 


221 


could  be  given  at  a small  expense  to  all  the  principal  places,  and  that  this  could  be 
gradually  extended  until  it  should  be  co-extensive  with  the  postal  service.  The  pub- 
lic would  still  have  the  choice  of  patronizing  the  Government  or  the  company  sys- 
tem, and,  as  there  could  be  no  collision  between  the  two,  a healthy  competition  could 
be  secured.  The  company  would  be  obliged  to  cheapen  rates  and  be  prompt  in  busi- 
ness, and  keep  in  employment  capable  and  satisfied  servants  ; and  if  at  any  time  a 
strike  did  occur  on  the  company’s  line,  the  people  would  not  be  without  a competent 
and  complete  means  of  communication.  There  is  no  doubt  at  all  but  that  this  matter 
will  be  forced  upon  the  attention  of  Congress,  g,nd  little  doubt  but  that  action  on  one 
of  the  two  above-mentioned  lines  will  be  undertaken,  which  wdll  be  determined  by 
the  progress  of  the  discussion  ; but  the  weight  of  opinion,  as  so  far  expressed,  seems  to 
be  in  favor  of  Government  competition.  The  question  does  not  press  quite  so  strongly 
upon  us  in  Canada,  but  it  is  a growing  and  important  one.  It  has  already  received 
some  discussion  in  the  press  and  will  very  probably  soon  enter  the  arena  of  parlia- 
mentary deliberation. 

[Albany  Times. ) 

NOT  THE  GOVERNMENT  LINE. 

A great  deal  is  said  lately  about  the  Postal  Telegraph  Company,  which  should  not, 
by  the  way,  be  confounded  with  the  Govern meut  telegraph  scheme.  The  postal  is 
simply  a private  enterprise,  with  fair  prospects  of  success,  and  these  are  because  of 
certain  improvements  which  it  controls.  These  improvements  are  strong  proofs  that 
telegraphy  is  only  in  its  infancy,  and  that  the  time  is  coming,  and  near  at  hand,  when 
all  except  the  most  trivial  corresyiondence  will  be  done  by  electricity. 

[Rome  Sentinel.] 

THE  GRINDING  WESTERN  UNION. 

Dr.  Green  makes  the  following  remarkable  declaration  : “As  I told  General  Eckert 
this  afternoon,  the  several  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  which  have  been  lost  in 
the  strike  I regard  to  be  the  best  financial  investment  made  by  the  company.  Here- 
after General  Eckert  tells  me  that  he  will  get  one-third  more  w^ork  out  of  a man  fora 
day’s  services,  and  the  economy  of  such  a step  will  retrieve  the  loss  in  less  than  six 
months.”  How  much  the  strike  has  cost  the  Western  Union  there  is  no  finding  out ; 
but  whatever  the  amount  may  be,  the  bold  assertion  that  it  will  be  made  up,  say,  by 
.January  1 next,  by  the  simple  process  of  getting  33^  per  cent,  more  work  out  of 
the  operators,  wdll  go  very  far  toward  proving  much  which  the  strikers  alleged  in  their 
notices  to  the  public.  One-rhird  more  work  is  what  is  written,  and  the  Western  Union 
is  not  the  sort  of  concern  to  let  go  its  grip  on  any  such  a percentage  of  increase.  If 
w’e  suppose  the  loss  to  the  company  during  the  strike  was  $500,000  in  round  numbers  ; 
if,  as  asserted,  it  can  be  made  up  in  six  months,  then  in  another  six  months  there 
will  be  in  the  treasury  $500,000  clear  profit,  and  so  on  at  the  rate  of  $1,000,000  a year 
till  such  time  as  this  sort  of  unscru])ulou8uess  is  brought  to  a halt  by  methods  the 
future  must  bring  forth. 

[Macon  (Ga.)  Telegraph.] 

PEARS  OP  A GOVERNMENT  MONOPOLY. 

It  comes  from  Atlanta  that  the  legislature  contemplates  instructing  the  Congres- 
sional delegation  to  move  lor  the  establishment  of  a postal-telegraph  service  by  the 
Government.  A monopoly  run  by  an  individual  or  a syndicate  is  bad  enough  ; a 
Government  monopoly  must  prove  a great  deal  worse. 

[New  York  Herald,  September  6,  1883.] 

“let  the  GOVERNMENT  BUY  US  OUT.” 

The  Sun  believes  the  proposition  to  establish  a Government  telegraph  line  as  an 
adjunct  to  the  Post-Office  “preposterous,”  “ hasty  and  ill-considered,”  and  not  to  be 
entertained. 

To  all  that  Mr.  Jay  Gould  in  his  interesting  testimony  before  the  Senate  Labor  Com- 
mittee yesterday  said,  “ Me,  too.” 

The  Sun  adds  : “ The  Government  would,  we  suppose,  have  to  buy  the  existing  lines. 
These  could  not  compete  with  the  Government,  and  would  have  to  sell  or  go  under. 
The  bitterest  opponents  of  Mr.  Gould  would  hardly  wish  that  all  the  other  2,599  stock- 
holders of  the  Western  Union  should  lose  the  value  of  their  stock  that  he  might  be 
more  effectually  plundered.  Mr.  Edmunds  will  have  to  discuss  that  question.” 


